Patricia Sanasie’s killer managed to elude capture by slipping away from the crime scene in a silver grey Toyota Raum motor car, leaving the police with the uphill task of tracking down this popular model of vehicle.
Shortly after the January 12 execution-style killing – the first for 2015 – police set up road blocks to form a dragnet aimed at intercepting the getaway vehicle and the killer. Those efforts failed.
Interception of getaway vehicles particularly those used in high-profile crimes has always been a challenge for the police. Eyewitnesses often only recall the colour and make of the vehicle and not the licence plate number. In the few cases where police do get a licence plate number, it turns out to be fake. Critics have said this is a key reason why the authorities should invest in a specialized licence plate system which can’t be easily faked.
Sanasie, 45, was fumbling to open the gate to her Lot 129 Atlantic Gardens, East Coast Demerara home so that her daughter could drive in when a `bulky’ gunman dressed in black with a mask walked up. Based on eyewitness accounts, within a matter of seconds the man fired five shots at point-blank range.
He then jumped into the waiting car which sped off leaving the lifeless Sanasie sprawled on the ground in a pool of blood with wounds to her pubic area, neck, head and right arm.
According to Divisional Commander Christopher Griffith, police are doing everything possible to find the getaway vehicle. He told Stabroek News that the only description received so far was that it was silver grey in colour.
He said that no one was able to make out the licence plate number of the vehicle and a review of surveillance footage proved to be unhelpful in this regard. He said the vehicle “passed so fast” and Guyana lacks the technology to freeze sections of the footage and enhance same so that this detail becomes visible.
The Atlantic Gardens community only has one way in and one way out. This entrance/exit point is just off the East Coast public road. Sanasie’s house is located at least two minutes by vehicle from this point. Any vehicle coming out of Atlantic Gardens can go left or right along the public road or into a street across the road which leads into the Montrose community.
To date it is unclear which of these routes the getaway car took.
Asked about the response to the report of the shooting, the commander said that it was almost immediate as a policeman living nearby rushed to the scene and assisted in taking the wounded woman to the hospital.
Questioned about patrols in the area, he said that patrols were not confined to any area but operate along the entire length of the East Coast Demerara carriageway.
Given the geography of the East Coast, effectively patrolling villages would be difficult. In addition to the many streets these communities have, the Guyana Police Force the lacks resources and manpower to carry out such a task.
Commander Griffith said too that within ten minutes of the shooting three police patrols responded and road blocks were set up almost immediately. “As soon as we got word of the shooting police responded with road blocks,” he said adding that this is clearly outlined in the force’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
He said that at these road blocks there were stop-and-search exercises aimed at intercepting the vehicle and the killer.
According to Griffith, investigators are at the moment checking with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) for information on this model of vehicle with the aim of eliminating some based on the colour.
While admitting that this will be a difficult task, it is all part of the investigation to single out the vehicles that could possibly match the description of the getaway car.
The killing occurred just a month shy of the first anniversary of an attempted hit on Sanasie’s husband, who would later accuse her of being behind a plot to kill him. He is said to have been in the United States since late last year after initially moving from their home.
On February 12, 2014, Deokarran Sanasie was shot several times about his body while drinking in the vicinity of his auto sales business at Fourth and Light streets, Alberttown. He was rushed to a private city hospital, where he was treated for gunshot wounds.
He later expressed concerns for his safety and went into hiding.
During that time, his wife and her brother were held in connection with the shooting. However, Patricia Sanasie had denied having any involvement in the attempted hit on her husband.
Prior to her death she had confided in friends and relatives that she feared for her life. She was in the process of putting things in place with the intention of migrating to the United States when she was killed.
Difficult
A security source told this newspaper that it is difficult to investigate a crime based on the colour or model of a vehicle. According to the source while this could be useful information, investigators require much more. According to the source, among the things working against the police in the Sanasie case is the fact that the area was dark and there may have been few persons who would have seen enough to provide critical pieces of information.
Canvassing nearby communities, the source said, could yield important information. “There has to be someone on that public road who had a better look at this vehicle or even the driver,” the source said adding there must have been at least one other person inside the getaway car.
The source said too that since the killer had options when it came to his escape he would have been in the area prior to the shooting checking out those options. The source said that it would be of use if police can find someone who may have seen a suspicious silver grey car or any other vehicle in the days leading up to the killing.
“It is here that good police/community relations come in. Yes, there was one way in and one way out but in what direction did the car go? Did it head further up the East Coast, did it head in the direction of town, did they drive into Plaisance, Better Hope, Montrose? These are questions that need to be asked and answers provided,” the source said adding that there have been multiple cases where the colour and make of a vehicle was of no help.
The source pointed specifically to the Mont-rose armed robbery which left two bandits–including a wanted policeman – dead. There is information circulating that two accomplices left the scene in a red car. Police however are yet to locate the vehicle.
The source pointed out that in this most recent case, the police would have taken time to get mobilized, giving the killer enough time to make his escape. The source said that a police station is located about three minutes away and as such the getaway car could have gone further up the East Coast.
According to the source, police need to form relationships with the owners of bodywork shops and persons who make licence plates. “These can be key people because sign artists may be the people providing these guys with licence plates. And in the event that they want to change their vehicle colour after committing a crime they go to a bodywork shop. These people can provide useful information to the police,” the source said while adding that these crimes can be explored from many different angles.
The colour and make of a car, the source stressed is not enough when trying to solve a crime.
Former police commissioner Winston Felix also asserted this position following the brazen murder of Lusignan teenager Ashmini Harriram. He had told Stabroek News in an interview that for that case police needed the licence plate number and details of the suspect. He said too that canvassing a neighbourhood is one of the information-gathering tools the police have at their disposal.
Investigating ranks later learnt that the getaway vehicle was taken to a mechanic in Berbice to be sprayed over. Some two months after the July 2014 murder, Lennox Wayne, also known as ‘Two Colours’, 29, of 1308 Diamond Housing Scheme and Melroy Doris, 26, of ‘N ‘Bent Street, Wortmanville were charged.
The beautician was shot dead as she walked along the roadway with her cousin. The gunman grabbed her cellphone before returning to the burgundy coloured car which sped off.
