The draft terms of reference and an Memorandum of Understanding for the investigations to be led by the Regional Security System (RSS) officials into the murders of the three West Coast Berbice (WCB) teenagers including the Henry cousins have been completed and should be processed this week by the Attorney General’s Chambers.
“The President has committed to the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry comprising of both local and international personnel of high calibre to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of the three young men in Berbice and the violent aftermath which flowed therefrom,” Attorney General Anil Nandall told the Stabroek News yesterday when contacted.
“The terms of reference would include the role of politicians, if any, it will examine the response of the law enforcement agency it will examine the violence and the perpetrators of the violence which flowed as the aftermath and will also consider appropriate compensation for those who suffered in terms of personal injuries and proprietary interest,” he added.
He said that the process will begin as soon as the budget presentation in the National Assembly is completed and stressed that “the main objective of this exercise is to, as far as possible, get to the truth of what transpired and the underlying factors which catalyzed them.
“Too many times these violent explosions take place and we sweep it under the carpet with those who may have played a significant role getting off completely without any blame. This must not happen in our country. Those who are responsible for such violent eruptions must be held accountable and others must not be allowed to be used as scapegoats,” he added.
In an address to the nation on the evening of September 9th, President Irfaan Ali announced that he will be mobilizing help from the RSS of the Caribbean and the UK government to bolster the investigative capacity of the police force as they probe the murders of the teenagers in the village of Cotton Tree as well as the “criminality which led to the disruption of lives along the Region Five corridor.”
“We will seek to use all available tools in not only solving these crimes but also in getting a comprehensive and holistic picture as to all the events surrounding what took place thereafter,” Ali had said.
This Government will work to bring justice to every single person who has been affected in these circumstances, Ali assured. He explained that in consultation with the GPF, he engaged the mechanism to reach out to the British Government to come to Guyana in support of the Force’s investigative capacity.
The Regional Security System is a “hybrid” organization, part of the Caribbean Community which works to ensure the stability and well-being of Member States through mutual cooperation, in order to maximise regional security in preserving social and economic development.
Under the terms of the Treaty on Security Assistance (TSA) the RSS offers immediate and threat appropriate responses to all situations, programmes to increase security awareness and high-quality comprehensive and objective research. It also offers intelligence and Trend Analysis in a timely manner to support effective decision-making.
According to Ali, along with bolstering the criminal investigative capacity of the GPF he had asked the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs to explore, within the United Nations System, all means available to hold to account, all those who spread race hate and instigate racial strife.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hugh Todd, told this newspaper last evening that his ministry had written requesting assistance and it was given. Meetings were held and the terms of reference and MOU were drafted and send to the Attorney General’s Chambers for vetting.
On Sunday September 6th, the police said that the bodies of the cousins were found about 600 feet from each other in clumps of bushes near to a coconut farm on the WCB.
Isaiah, 16, a student at the Woodley Park Secondary School, and Joel, 18, who worked at the Blairmont Estate, went missing Saturday, September 5, after they left home for the Cotton Tree backlands to pick coconuts.
After they did not return home that evening, relatives lodged missing persons’ reports with the police but were told that they had to wait the mandatory 24 hours. The next morning, they subsequently launched a search. It was while searching that the bodies of the teens were discovered.
Autopsies performed on the bodies of the teenagers showed that they both died from haemorrhage and shock due to multiple wounds.
Days after the killing, Haresh Singh, a relative of one of the suspects in the matter was also murdered, in what is believed to be a retaliatory killing.
On Friday, police arrested five more persons as they continued to investigate the murders.
Chief Wendell Blanhum confirmed with this newspaper that the suspects were arrested on Friday.
He said investigators were able to establish that among those in custody are individuals who allegedly saw the Henrys on the day before their bodies were discovered. Blanhum said the suspects were detained after they initially denied that they saw the cousins on the day in question.
Some of the suspects in custody were also detained in the early stages of the probe.
