Some murder investigations on hold

Police are still awaiting the results from gunpowder residue tests in some shooting deaths, including the slaying of Korner Kick Manager, Tevin Parris, and the mysterious shooting deaths of Pomeroon farmers, Ambrose Baharally and Martin Godette.

That’s because the Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory (GFSL) has a huge backlog of forensic evidence to process, says Director Delon France. Mr. France revealed that the GFSL started conducting tests for the Guyana Police Force on March 1, 2017. “We had boxes upon boxes of evidence that we had to process; not only for gunpowder residue, toxicology and currencies, but for blood and other cases,” the Director explained during an exclusive interview with Kaieteur News. “And evidence was also coming in daily. We were working on getting the backlog out (especially) on pending and ongoing cases, where police would be requiring information on whether to charge within 72 hours.” The GFSL Director also explained that two tests (presumptive and confirmatory) are required to confirm the presence of gunpowder residue, since there are substances (such as brakes pad residue) that are similar to gunpowder residue. “The preliminary tests (also called the presumptive or screening tests) will pick up (evidence of) chemicals which appear to be gunshot residue, or which mimic gunshot residue. “Then you do the confirmatory tests, which would confirm what substance it actually is.”

But while the lab was able to conduct the preliminary tests, the equipment that would confirm the presence of gunpowder was still at the police laboratory. It was also not working. Mr. France revealed that after acquiring the finances through government, and bringing in engineers from England, “we were able to identify the problem, and by the end of February, we will have the backlog cleared up.” But the GFSL Director stressed that forensic tests “cannot be rushed,” since they have to be conducted in a manner that is consistent with international standards. “It takes a lot of time to do those tests. What the lab is doing is developing standards and procedures according to international accreditation; so there are a lot of steps to follow. At the end of the day, our integrity is on the line.” If this backlog is cleared, police should soon receive the results of forensic evidence from the January 7 murder of Tevin Parris. The 27-year-old Manager of the ‘Korner Kick’ bar was found dead in his bed, in the upper flat of his Lot 66 Garnett Street, Newtown home.

(Kaieteur News)