Six months after he was gunned down outside the Palm Court bar on Main Street, the family of Ricardo Fagundes last evening demanded answers from the police on the state of their investigation.
Family and friends gathered outside of Palm Court and held a silent vigil.
The deceased man’s mother Carol Fagundes said they are clueless about the investigation as they last received an update from the police in April.
“We need justice. Is six months. Nothing ain’t doing, we ain’t hearing anything and I don’t know if it is a cover up or not but we need justice. In April two time we went to Eve Leary and they have nothing up to now and they are overdoing it now and they know and they ain’t doing nothing about it,” the mother said as she held back tears.
During the course of the vigil she held a placard that read ‘Justice for my son, my last born, my baby Ricardo Fagundes aka Paper.’
The mother lamented that it has been a difficult six months and many nights she still cries herself to sleep. She stated that receiving justice will give her and the family some amount of peace.
“He didn’t do anybody anything, no wrong. He more would help people than doing people wrong things so I don’t know why they kill he. We want to know why they killed him, what the purpose for killing him, you know. They can’t find the killer, nothing. It’s time, we need justice and can’t take it like this,” she said as tears streamed from her eyes.
Another relative said that from all indications it appears as if investigators are dragging their feet on the matter.
“It has been six months and there has been no response from the police force on what’s going on in the investigation, if they are still investigations ongoing or nothing at all basically. They don’t reach out to the family. We gave them time to give us answers and no answers were given,” she stressed.
In April, the police had held murder convict Rondell Bacchus in relation to the killing but later released him.
Since then, there has been no further word on how the investigation is progressing and whether the police are making headway.
As such, 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 the 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.
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 cell 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 rounds at the scene. Sixteen were from an AK-47 rifle while the other fourteen were from a 9mm gun.
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 Fagundes was shot.
Khan 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.
