Benn rules out Argentina forensic team for West Berbice murders

Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn yesterday said that the Government does not intend to go beyond its “normal lines” of engagement in trying to solve the murders of teenaged cousins Isaiah and Joel Henry as well as Haresh Singh by facilitating a forensic team from Argentina.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event yesterday, Benn said in cases of this nature, it’s a norm for authorities to engage overseas agencies from the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK) and Canada.

As such, he said this will be maintained.

“The normal recourse and reliable recourses we have, the normal overseas agencies we deal with in respect of … forensic analyses are in the United States, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). Also, the UK policing authorities and the Canadians,” Benn said.

According to Benn, these are the agencies which the Government “normally resorts to” and this will be maintained.

“….Those are the ones we normally resort to and those are the ones which we will resort to. We have no particular preference to go outside the normal lines of engagement which we have in relation to these matters,” he said.

Isaiah, 16, a student at the Woodley Park Secondary 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 missing-persons reports 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, Singh, was also murdered in what is believed to be a reprisal killing.

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) has since announced that it will be offering a $3M reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the person/s responsible for the murders.

However, the family of the Henry cousins, through their attorney Nigel Hughes has since said that the money would be better spent paying for the services of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (Equipo Argentino de Antropologia ForensicaEAAF), that has offered to aid in the probe. The cost to have the team here is likely to be $7M.

The team’s offer to aid local authorities was announced a month ago via a joint statement from the GPF, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) and the law firm Hughes, Fields & Stoby.

A joint statement on October 1st said the EAAF, which has worked on high profile cases in many parts of the world, offered to send a team to Guyana, including a forensic pathologist, a forensic anthropologist, a forensic radiologist and a criminologist.

More than a month ago, a team from the Caribbean Community’s Implementation Agency for Crime and Security ( CARICOM IMPACS) and the Regional Security System (RSS) visited to assist local police with the investigations.

President Irfaan Ali had taken a decision to have the team here 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.

Following their departure, a report was prepared. While the findings were not made public, sources had told Stabroek News that the team found that the GPF is “well poised and competent” to complete the investigations.

However, Ali had also told the media that the RSS team has recommended additional work be done.

DNA samples were also collected and testing was done both here and in St Lucia. Upon return from St Lucia, it was revealed that the DNA samples showed no links to the suspects who were arrested for questioning for the murders.

Despite this, Benn said yesterday that authorities are satisfied with the DNA analyses that were conducted and the probe continues.