The CARICOM Regional Security System (RSS) team that came to aid the investigation into the murders of Berbice cousins Isaiah and Joel Henry and Haresh Singh in September has found that the Guyana Police Force is “well poised and competent” to complete the investigations, sources say.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that the report, which summarises the team’s visit here, also recognised that the GPF did “extensive” work during the investigation of the three murders.
To date, no charges have been laid in relation to the murders and the police have come under pressure over this. However, the investigations are said to be ongoing.
In relation to the murders of Berbice cousins Isaiah and Joel Henry, sources say that the RSS team found that a relative of the deceased was asked to lie and claim that the crime was politically influenced in return for being “looked after”.
During its visit, the team interviewed the relatives of the deceased. “…one of the relatives referenced a politically exposed person who communicated with the family and requested of them to lie and say that the murders were politically influenced and in return that they will be looked after,” a finding in the report, which was shared with this newspaper, states.
The RSS team, which comprised officials from countries within the Regional Investigative Management System, was in Guyana from September 28th to October 5th. During the visit, this newspaper was told, the team visited the crime scene, checked files, examined evidence and interviewed the relatives of the victims. Its 10-page report was submitted to local authorities two weeks after it departed. It is unclear whether the findings will be made public.
While responding to questions during a press conference on September 8th, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum had told reporters that investigators did not gather any information which suggest that the crime was politically-motivated.
“We have found no evidence absolutely to support that contention… at this point in time, we will not disclose anything pertaining to motive,” Blanhum had said.
Isaiah, 16, a student at the Woodley Park Secon-dary School, and Joel, 18, who worked at the Blairmont Estate, went missing on Saturday, September 5, after they left home for the Cotton Tree backlands to pick coconuts.
After they did not return home, relatives lodged a missing-persons report with the police and subsequently launched a search. It was while searching that the bodies of the teens were discovered. The discovery of the bodies sparked days of unrest in West Berbice.
Autopsies performed on the bodies of the teenagers showed that they both died from haemorrhage and shock due to multiple wounds.
Days after this, another teenager, Haresh Singh, was also murdered in what is believed to be a reprisal killing.
Last month, President Irfaan Ali took a decision to request assistance from the Caribbean Community Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (CARICOM IMPACS) after dozens of ranks combed the backlands of No. 2 and No. 3 villages, WCB and found nothing of “evidential” value for the investigation into the murders.
The police had said that a “methodical” search was carried out in the backlands of No. 2 and No. 3 villages, between 7am and 2pm on Thursday, September 17th, by a total of 75 ranks, drawn from Region Five, the Criminal Investigation Department’s Major Crimes Unit and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) led by Commander of Region Five Edmond Cooper and a Lieutenant Colonel. They were also accompanied by government pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh.
That update came days after the police announced that investigations revealed that the Henrys were not killed at the location where their bodies were found.
The police had said that the bodies of the cousins were found about 600 feet from each other in clumps of bushes near a coconut farm on the WCB. “…Preliminary findings showed that the bodies of the Henry boys were discovered at a secondary crime scene,” the police had said in a statement.
This means that the heinous murders were not committed where the bodies were found. “Person(s) moved the bodies after the murder and placed them at the locations where they were subsequently discovered,” the police added.
Forensic evidence was found at the secondary crime scene and has since been collected, preserved and submitted to the Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory (GFSL) for DNA analysis.
The police had also said that DNA samples were also collected from the suspects who were in custody and sent for a comparative analysis to be conducted against the forensic evidence collected from the secondary crime scene.
The samples were sent to St. Lucia for testing.
Commissioner of Police (ag) Nigel Hoppie has told reporters that the results are expected “shortly”.
