Crime Chief Leslie James yesterday stated that police did not have sufficient evidence to convict Donald Rodney of the possession of explosives as he was following his brother Dr. Walter Rodney, who died in a bomb explosion in 1980.
He made this pronouncement at the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into Rodney’s death yesterday while under cross-examination by attorney Andrew Pilgrim, who is representing Walter Rodney’s wife and children.
He stated that there was also not sufficient evidence from his perusal of police files to charge Donald Rodney, who was in the car with Walter Rodney when it exploded, with murder.
“Frankly, I don’t think so,” he said, while he was being quizzed about the Guyana Police Force’s role in “deliberately ignoring information” which may have led to the arrest of Gregory Smith.
Smith has long been accused of the killing of Walter Rodney, who died on June 13, 1980 in his brother’s car at John and Bent streets after a walkie-talkie given to him exploded.
James said he believes that Donald Rodney “always felt that he was uplifting a walkie-talkie” instead of an explosive device. He stated that in Donald Rodney’s statement there was no indication of his awareness of any explosive.
James added that he had stated in his earlier testimony that Walter Rodney was reckless because he had not acted with caution when he collected a package that was given to him by Smith.
He said Rodney may not have considered that someone might have been plotting to kill him, and as such he faulted him for not taking precautions. He stated further that Rodney may not have considered that Smith might be acting as a double agent.
He added that forensic scientist Dr. Frank Skuse’s report— which indicated that the equipment used in the killing of Rodney was typical of that used in the Guyana Defence Force, and that Rodney was not operating the device at the time of explosion— suggested that an external party, other than Rodney and his brother, had caused the explosion.
He said the principal person who would have been suspected for the explosion would be Smith.
Dr. Skuse’s report stated that the absence of injury and explosives residue on Walter Rodney’s hands showed that he was not operating controls or preparing the device at the time of the explosion. He also suggested that the device was triggered by an external device.
His report was read to the commission on Wednesday and it stated that, from information collected, it should be possible to identify which person (s) or service operated a device on that frequency. The Police and the Guyana Defence Force use different frequencies to operate radio equipment. Some of the items recovered from the exploded walkie-talkie device were items supplied by the GDF. Dr. Skuse, in the report, was able to identify a type of battery he was aware that the GDF used.
When probed if Dr. Skuse’s report would have helped in the trial of Donald Rodney, who was later convicted for the possession of explosives, James agreed. He stated that he found the behaviour of police investigating the case “strange.”
Statements collected from police who were investigating the explosion and the death of Rodney, revealed that policemen visited the residence of Gwendolyn Jones, Smith’s girlfriend, and Smith to search for explosives and electrical equipment but no search was made to ascertain Smith’s whereabouts.
Pilgrim posited that the police seemed to have deliberately ignored critical information that could have led to Smith’s arrest. He stated that the police had already had in their possession the statement of Donald Rodney, which revealed Smith as the person who gave them the walkie-talkie to set, while he, Smith, operated a companion set from his home. He said it was strange that the police would visit Smith’s home and not search for him.
He questioned James, based on his expertise and years of service in the force, if he considered the police behaviour guilty of purposely ignoring the information that they possessed. But James said he could not agree with that.
James said the reason he found the police behaviour bizarre was because the “information might have been peculiar to all the persons who were apart of the investigation.” However, Pilgrim pressed further, asking James if he found it unusual that Donald Rodney was charged a few days after the explosion and police did nothing to search for Smith.
Ignatius McCrae, in his testimony which was read to the Commission yesterday, said he had never tried to find Smith. He said he was under the control of the Deputy Crime Chief Skip Roberts and he had seen no statement implicating Donald Rodney with a bomb or explosive device.
“I know who assassinated Walter Rodney, I will say the defender Donald Rodney assassinated Walter Rodney. In the evidence available to me I would have charged Donald Rodney for murder…” McCrae said, however, in his statement.
Pilgrim said it was unusual for an officer to go to a man’s house, who was named in connection with murder, and then say “I didn’t look for him.”
James responded that the officer was not instructed to search for Smith and his visit was specific.
“I don’t want you to excuse his behavior,” Pilgrim declared.
“I am not excusing his behaviour…I don’t attempt to give an excuse for Mr. Gentle,” James replied.
Pilgrim said the only source of information the police had was their intelligence and the statement of Donald Rodney, questioning why the police had not revisited the Rodney’s statement and his charge after Dr. Skuse’s report was made available.
James admitted that the investigation appeared to very hasty. Pilgrim said there also seemed to be harassment even after Rodney’s death, which may have been a “tactic used to conceal” other information.
He asked James if he would agree that it would have been more appropriate to wait on the experts’ evidence rather than charging Donald Rodney and James said yes.
Pilgrim stated that Dr. Skuse’s evidence and another expert report were not submitted as evidence in Donald Rodney’s trial and if they were it would have helped with the investigation.
He added that the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) questioned why it took the GDF “at least 15 years to acknowledge Smith’s existence”. He suggested that it would have assisted the police investigation if they knew that Smith was a member of the GDF.
James, however, said he could not comment on that because he was not there at that time. Pilgrim questioned him why he think Smith was not brought before a court martial for his desertions. James responded that he did not know and that he, Pilgrim, should ask Norman McLean. But he noted that a joint investigation should have been carried out by both the police and the army.
Yet, Pilgrim prodded as to why he could no comment and James responded: “I cannot comment on that sir”.
“Why not? You should be bold sir,” Pilgrim pressed, stating that the ICJ had observed that at no time was Smith brought before the court for his desertions and no serious attempt to determine the extent of his participation in Rodney’s death was made.
James, nonetheless, refused to comment. He said certain questions should not be posed to him because he was not there at that time.
On Wednesday, James indicated that the failure by the Guyana Police Force to make an effort to arrest Gregory Smith was “not proper” in the face of evidence pointing to him as possibly being the person who triggered the explosion.
