Self-confessed death squad member Shawn Hinds was not wanted by police in connection with the slaying of political activist Courtney Crum-Ewing, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum said yesterday even as he revealed that a second person has been questioned for this killing and is now in police custody.
Contacted yesterday Blanhum brushed aside suggestions that the investigators had an interest in the former policeman and he made it very clear he was not wanted by the police in connection with the case.
At the moment, police have already questioned the suspected triggerman who is currently on remand after facing gun-related charges last week. It was later revealed that police were seeking a second person.
Though this person is yet to be detained Blanhum informed this newspaper that based on “further information” investigators contacted an individual yesterday and that person is presently in police custody. He said that the suspect in custody would be the third person identified to investigators.
Based on what this newspaper has been told the person arrested yesterday is the son of a well-known drugs dealer who was gunned down several years ago.
Police investigators made a breakthrough in the case when ballistic tests found that an illegal .32 gun found at a Georgetown residence was linked to the Crum-Ewing murder scene. Previously at least eight persons had been arrested in connection with the probe but police were unable to find any concrete evidence against them. Surveillance footage had also produced naught.
Shortly after his death, Crum-Ewing’s relatives had told the media that two senior members of the former government had made threats to his life and these threats were reported to the Brickdam Police Station. The police have never disclosed clearly if those two persons were ever contacted and questioned about the reports. Following police confirmation late last week that a suspect has been identified and had been questioned, Crum-Ewing’s mother Donna Harcourt told Stabroek News that she wanted the persons who hired him caught and tried in a court of law, even if it would mean a reduced sentence for the triggerman. This person had managed to elude the police ranks who descended on his home but he turned himself in one day later.
Crum-Ewing was shot dead on March 10 at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, where he was urging residents to vote against the incumbent PPP/C at the May 11th elections.
He was shot five times, including three times to the head.
For weeks prior to his death, he had held one man protest outside the office of the then Attorney General Anil Nandlall, calling for his resignation over controversial statements he made during a telephone conversation with a Kaieteur News reporter that was made public.
