Dear Editor,
Sergeant Dion Bascom has made clear allegations of corruption in the Guyana Police Force that go as far as attempting to frustrate/hamper/ an investigation of a murder. What is now clear is that the lower ranks of the GPF have significant evidence on the main suspect but believe that they (Bascom et al.) have been prevented from gathering enough critical evidence for charges to be laid before a court of law by at least two senior officers.
There may be attempts to brush aside Bascom’s claims as ranting based on his arrest during a CANU raid but that would be foolish since Bascom’s claims of being threatened by the main suspect have appeared in the press since 6.2.2022. It is a common tactic of criminals to promote forgetting. If this fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of his victim. If he cannot silence him/her absolutely, he tries to make sure no one listens.
Guyanese society is very small and stories of corruption within the police force are not new, but the level of officers and seriousness (murder) is without precedent; both of these officers should be sent on leave and two multi-national teams of investigators assembled and given charge and unfettered rein/access to investigate the murder of Ricardo Fagundes and allegations of corruption and compromising of the senior officers.
In her seminal work Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror, Judith Lewis Herman says “Folk wisdom is filled with ghosts who refuse to rest in their graves until their stories are told. Murder will out. Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims”. Much work has to be done for the Guyanese public to regain/retain confidence in the Police Force and never has there been such an urgent need for this as now.
Sincerely,
Robin Singh
