Five months after he was gunned down outside Palm Court on Main Street, Georgetown, the family of gold dealer Ricardo Fagundes yesterday broke their silence as they called for answers and justice.
Close to about three dozen persons, including Fagundes’ mother, Carol Fagundes, and a group of his friends staged a peaceful protest outside the Palm Court night club last evening. They lamented that five months have passed since Fagundes’ was murdered and to date no charges have been laid.
Family members of the dead man said they were seeking to find out why someone would want to kill Fagundes and they also urged the police to do their work so that they could get justice.
Fagundes, also known as ‘Paper Shorts’, 42, a resident of Sandy Babb Street, Kitty, was riddled with bullets by two men outside of the Palm Court around 10 pm on Sunday, March 21.
According to the police, Fagundes was having drinks with a colleague in Palm Court when he received a call on his phone. Shortly after exiting Palm Court, the police said several loud explosions were heard. Fagundes was later found lying in a pool of blood on the road. His body bore several gunshot wounds.
An autopsy later showed that Fagundes was shot about 20 times about his body.
Sources had told Stabroek News that the police recovered 30 spent shells at the scene. Sixteen were from an AK-47 rifle, while the other fourteen were from a 9mm-calibre gun.
Sporting face masks with the words “Justice for Paper”, those that gathered carried placards which the messages “Justice for Paper. We deserve answers”, “Justice for Paper. Today marks 5 months since he was killed” and “No answer, no peace.”
“Five months, we ain’t get no justice. I don’t know if the police like they cover this thing up. It’s time, it’s time, and it’s long time. I need justice. We got to go through this pain,” Fagundes’ mother, Carol, told Sunday Stabroek. “It’s not fair for the killer just go free. We need the police to do their work and get them. Whoever kill he,” she added.
Carol said Fagundes had no problem with anyone which might have led to his death.
“He was not no bad person. Why they do it? Why they kill he? Wah they kill he fah? Duh is all I want know. It’s time, it’s time. Long due now. I getting restless sleep,” she noted.
One of Fagundes’ sister, Theresa Fagundes, said that the family will not stop until their calls are answered.
“It might take a while but if we continue to push, we will get justice. We will pray for justice,” Theresa told Sunday Stabroek while adding, “Today makes five months and we haven’t heard anything yet…It’s not fair for this to just go down like this. We need justice because our brother is not nobody bad”.
During a speech at Fagundes’ funeral service, convicted drug trafficker Roger Khan said that he was the real target of the shooting. Khan had also been at Palm Court at the time.
Khan had appealed to President Irfaan Ali for a “clean and impartial” investigation.
“Mr President, we are asking you, I am asking you on behalf of the family of Ricardo, to give this investigation the very same attention that you gave the Henry boys. Ricardo’s life is no less important than any other life in Guyana. We are asking for the political will, we are asking for the resources, that this investigation be handled by impartial investigators,” he pleaded.
He said the family will not rest until they receive justice.
“…The hearts of men bleed for justice. It is a natural, God-given, inalienable thing that God gives man, to try for justice and this act here, this injustice, if the police do not investigate this crime and follow the evidence rather than follow the money or any kind of corrupt motive, the hearts of men will become enraged,” Khan stated.
Responding to Khan, the police in a statement had said that they were pursuing all leads to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.
‘Police cover up’
Meanwhile, another sister, Tessa Fagundes, told Sunday Stabroek that she was sensing a cover up in the matter by the police.
According to the family, they haven’t been hearing from the police.
They said about three months ago, they visited Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, and were told that the police were looking at a prime suspect in the matter.
Since then, they said they received no other word.
“They say they looking into it….Police never like tell we anything really serious….they just calling we back. They ain’t saying nothing,” Carol said.
“So far, nothing. Nobody come to our house to find out what happen……We are told there is a suspect. Nothing was said to us [about] who or if they arrested this person for questioning. Nothing of this sort and we need answers. We need answers because it’s not right. He died for what reason we don’t know,” Theresa added.
In April, the police had held murder convict Rondell Bacchus in relation to the killing but later released him.
Weeks after, sources had told this newspaper that investigators were pursuing a second suspect.
Since then, the police have been silent on how the investigation is progressing and whether they are making headway. As a result, questions still linger about a number of aspects of the investigation. This includes whether the police were able to ascertain the identity of Fagundes’ alleged shooters from security footage obtained and if they were able to determine the origin of the AK-47 assault rifle which was used in the shooting.
In terms of the suspected getaway car, it is unclear whether investigators were able to determine if the vehicle found burnt at Swan Village on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, hours after the shooting was the same used in the crime.
As it relates to forensic work, the findings of ballistic tests from the spent shells and bullets recovered from the body remain unknown.
