The four men who were held earlier this week in connection with the murder of political activist Courtney Crum-Ewing are also being investigated for their alleged involvement in an assault on former Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Power & Light Inc (GPL) Aeshwar Deonarine, which occurred in 2012.
Stabroek News was informed by a reliable source that PPP members Kwame McCoy and Jason Abdulla, along with ex-policeman Shawn Hinds and Okenny Fraser, are suspected of involvement in the assault on Deonarine, after it was alleged that he inflated the electricity bills of a high-profile person during 2012. Deonarine was attacked viciously in front the company’s Main Street office.
Meanwhile, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum yesterday informed this newspaper that the police were granted an additional 72 hours’ detention period by the High Court to keep McCoy in custody. This came after extensions were also granted or the three other suspects on Thursday.
Abdulla was taken to two hospitals on Thursday to receive medical attention after his attorney alleged that he was beaten by the police. However, Blanhum gave a different account, stating that it was hours after Abdulla had given the police a caution statement that he made an allegation of being beaten.
Crum-Ewing was shot dead on the evening of March 10, 2015 at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, where he was urging residents to vote against the incumbent PPP/C at the May 11 general elections. He was shot five times, including three times in the head.
For weeks prior to his death, he had held a one-man protest outside then attorney general Anil Nandlall’s office, calling for his resignation over controversial statements he had made during a telephone conversation with a Kaieteur News reporter that was made public.
On August 7 last year Regan Rodrigues, called ‘Grey Boy’ was charged with Crum-Ewing’s murder after ballistics tests carried out on an illegal .32-calibre gun found at Rodrigues’ Georgetown residence linked it to the murder scene. He was also charged with illegal possession of the gun and ammunition.
On January 11, he was freed of the gun and ammunition charges following a trial and it is expected that he will be freed of the murder charge since the weapon was the key evidence linking him to the crime.
Rajput Narine, the ex-bodyguard of Nandlall was also taken into custody on August 7 last year and questioned but was released without being charged. Apart from this, McCoy, Hinds and Abdulla are expected to be charged soon over the throwing of faeces at newspaper columnist Freddie Kissoon in 2010.
