No breakthroughs have been made as yet in the investigation of execution-style killings carried out in the previous two months and a senior police official says insufficient information is a major challenge.
Taxi driver Oswald Rambarran was killed in September in Albouystown, while Wayne Jackson Wharton was killed last month on West Front Road in what appeared to be carefully-planned attacks. Two weeks ago, Sophia resident Kevin Inniss was killed in a drive-by attack.
“There might be person/persons who were there at the time but why they choose not to come forward remains unknown,” the senior officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Stabroek News.
Asked whether safety was the main factor contributing to the reluctance of witnesses, the police official said he could not specify, but noted that there are measures in place to deal with such cases, such as the protection of these individuals if necessary.
In a recent interview with this newspaper, the police official explained that while charges have not yet been laid, the probes remain open. “In a murder investigation like any other, not because someone wasn’t charged means that the police are not doing their work,” he said.
“The investigators work to leave no stones unturned,” he added, while stating that “matters can be under investigation for three months, six months and even a year but the police can receive information anytime that can lead to charges and convictions.”
The source noted that in the majority of execution-style killings, the victims are either threatened prior to death, involved in some old grievances or had some criminal background. Some are even deemed revenge killings. He warned that unless police build stronger relationships with members of the public, there is a strong likehood that such crimes will continue to occur and the perpetrator/s would continue roaming free.
On September 11, around 8.30 pm, Rambarran, called “Junior,” 42, of West Ruimveldt Housing Scheme, Georgetown, was gunned down along King Edward Street, Albouystown while delivering food.
He was shot several times about his body, including to his head, and died while receiving medical attention at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH).
Four persons were held for questioning but were later released.
In June, 2008, Rambarran had been shot by the police following a chase. Ranks of a police mobile patrol had observed him and a male accomplice trying to force a man into the trunk of a car. As the police approached, the accomplice fled while Rambarran sped away in his car and the chase ensued.
He was taken to the GPH after the 2008 shooting but escaped custody while awaiting medical attention. This saw him being remanded on charges of escaping while in police custody and assault.
Meanwhile, Wharton, 25, of Lot 277 Onderneeming, Parfait Harmonie, West Bank Demerara died during the wee hours of October 13, hours after he was shot and robbed of a gold chain he was wearing while standing on West Front Road. Shortly after his death, two persons were picked up and arrested for questioning but were subsequently released.
Stabroek News was told that the now dead man was standing on the West Front Road with some friends when he was approached by three men on motorcycles. He was shot and relieved of a gold chain he was wearing, after which the gunmen made good their escape by riding east.
Wharton’s mother, Michelle Leung, had later learned that the attack stemmed from an old grievance.
When contacted recently, Wharton’s sister, Ocia Leung had just returned from the police station, where she had provided the police with some information in relation the shooting. She said based on what she was told, two persons who were arrested by the police were the persons who gunned down Wharton but they were released since eyewitnesses refused to come forward out of fear for their lives.
Scuffle
While several reasons for his deaths are being spread in the streets, the woman said, persons related to her that on the night of the attack the men came with the intention of only robbing Wharton of his gold chain but ended up shooting him after a scuffle ensued. “These are people who does deh in the ghetto areas roaming the streets free with guns in their hands and they didn’t tell we this, but people in those areas tell we back,” Leung said.
The woman said that she and her family nonetheless remain confident in the police and they are hoping that justice will be served soon.
Wharton was shot once to the back and died while receiving medical attention at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
More recently, on October 27 Inniss, 23, of ‘B’ Field Sophia, was shot several times about his body while his friend, Shane Carter, was injured when a carload of men opened fire on them. At the time, they were among a group of men liming at a house in the area.
They were both rushed to the GPH, where Inniss died shortly after and Carter was admitted before being discharged the following morning.
The police had said that a dark-coloured vehicle drove up and three masked and armed men exited, approached the group and began discharging their guns, hitting Inniss and Carter. The men then jumped back into the vehicle and sped away in a western direction.
A friend of the two men said he had left the yard mere minutes before the shooting.
“I de just left there, ya know, to take my cousin home and that’s what happened. It was nuff of them in there but everybody scatter after them men start spray up,” the man, who did not want to be named, said. He noted that from what was related to him, the men exited the vehicle with the intention to kill every person in the yard. “If you see how they shoot up the place and just spray all over. They de want to hit everybody with how they shoot up,” he said.
The police source told this newspaper that in instances such as that of Rambarran and Inniss, persons were arrested based on suspicion and released because they either refused to provide information to investigators or they did, which assisted in building the probe.
“A person being detained does not necessarily mean that he/she is a criminal but they might provide the police with useful information or even new leads,” he said.
