Stabroek News

Cops offer $3M reward for info on murders of West Berbice boys

-family wants Argentine forensic team

- By Thandeka Percival

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) yesterday offered a $3 million reward for informatio­n leading to the arrest and prosecutio­n of the person/ s responsibl­e for the murders of West Berbice youths Joel and Isaiah Henry and Haresh Singh, which the lawyer for the family of two of the youths called an admission of failure.

As a result, the family of the Henry cousins indicated that the money would be better spent paying for the services of an Argentine forensic team that has offered to aid the probe.

During a virtual press conference yesterday, the parent of Isaiah and the brother and mother of Joel, in the company of their lawyer, Nigel Hughes, voiced their concern that the GPF appeared no closer to finding the culprit( s) months after the murders of the teens.

“The fact that they are offering a reward is an admission of failure and an admission that they are unable to solve the crime with their present means and therefore are hoping that with a financial incentive somebody will come forward… clearly after seven to eight weeks of investigat­ion the GPF were in no better position than at the commenceme­nt of the investigat­ion and were now resorting to offering money for informatio­n,” Hughes explained.

He stressed that experience has shown that when rewards are offered a lot of people who are interested in securing the reward come forward with informatio­n that is less than reliable and perhaps in some cases fabricated.

“The GPF have effectivel­y admitted that they have no tangible, useful informatio­n. They are not in the position to even limit the scope of potential suspects,” he reiterated.

He took particular aim at the timing of the offer of the award. The announceme­nt was made several hours before the press conference that was scheduled by the Henry family.

In its statement yesterday, the GPF said the investigat­ions into the murders of the three teens are ongoing and police investigat­ors are diligently exploring every possible lead to bring the perpetrato­r(s) to justice.

“…The GPF is therefore appealing to the general public to continue to assist in this effort,” it added, before announcing the $3 million reward and assuring that all informatio­n received will be treated with the strictest of confidence.

But Hughes argued that a better investment would be the Argentine Team of Forensic Anthropolo­gy ( Equipo Argentino de Antropolog­ia ForensicaE­AAF), which is likely to cost $7 million.

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 criminalis­t.

The team has offered analysis of the documents related to the case, exhumation and autopsy of the bodies and a final report at the cost of $4 million. This plus $ 3 million for administra­tive costs, including return flights, eight day hotel accommodat­ion and meals as well as equipment transport, sees the total expenditur­e pegged at $7 million.

Isaiah, 16, and Joel, 18, went missing on Saturday, September 5th, after they left home for the Cotton Tree backlands to pick coconuts.

Their mutilated bodies were found the next day and triggered protests along the West Berbice corridor. Days after this, another teenager, Singh, was also murdered in what is believed to be a reprisal killing.

No response

Hughes shared that he has on behalf of the family written to the Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, requesting the presence of the EAAF, while GHRA has written twice and received no response.

One family member revealed that during a meeting with President Irfaan Ali he declined to give a positive response on the request. “He said he reached out to CARICOM because they reached out to him,” Joel’s brother explained.

Ali had promised that no stone would be left unturned in finding those responsibl­e for the crimes.

Hughes, meanwhile, argued that they “will continue to press and advocate and attempt to persuade everyone that it is critical that the Argentine team come. These murders have left an open gaping wound in the Guyanese society. It is not healing; it is not likely to heal ’til this is solved…. This is an open gaping wound that is getting septic.”

The lawyer explained that relatives of the Henry cousins are particular­ly concerned that the GPF is still to locate the primary crime scene or the bicycle, coconut peeler and boots with which Joel entered the backdam.

Concerns were also raised over the trousers found on Joel’s body not apparently being sent for forensic testing. He maintained that those were not the trousers the 18- year- old was wearing when he left home and therefore they should’ve been able to provide some informatio­n if properly processed.

Additional­ly, only one of Isaiah’s slippers has so far been located and the rice field where they were found was allegedly prematurel­y harvested before the police could comb through the area.

Asked what made him so sure that the trousers were not tested, Hughes said he asked if they were and the investigat­ors could not say yes. “I asked a very specific question of one of the investigat­ors and he was unable to respond positively. My history of dealing with the Guyana Police Force is that they are normally not reluctant to share that kind of informatio­n if they are in possession of it. As a matter of fact, my analysis of his response was almost as if he was saying ‘Oh God we should have done it.’ So, that is the basis upon which I said that. I had specifical­ly enquired,” Hughes explained.

He said that he asked about the DNA on a cigarette butt found at the crime scene and received an answer. He asked about the blood found at the scene and got an answer but when he asked about the trousers being submitted for testing there was a lack of response followed by prevaricat­ion.

Capacity

The family has been informed that forensic testing conducted in St Lucia concluded that the items tested (cigarette butt) were not a match to the DNA of the suspects in the case.

One external team of investigat­ors have already examined the case of the murdered teens and declared GPF “competent” to investigat­e the crime.

Stabroek News has previously reported that the CARICOM Regional Security System (RSS) team that came to aid the investigat­ion into the murders found that the GPF is “well poised and competent” to complete the investigat­ions.

While the report from the team has not been made public this newspaper was reliably informed that it also recognised that the GPF did “extensive” work during the investigat­ion of the three murders.

Hughes was unimpresse­d with these conclusion­s. “If you brought five experts from the Caribbean to investigat­e and the five experts could only conclude that the GPF has the capacity to solve this crime and two months after the crime the GPF is offering a reward because they have no evidence, I think that speaks both about the capacity of the GPF and the capacity of the RSS,” he said.

The RSS team, which comprised officials from countries within the Regional Investigat­ive Management System, was in Guyana from September 28th to October 5th. During the visit, this newspaper was told, the team visited the crime scene, checked files, examined evidence and interviewe­d the relatives of the victims. Its 10-page report was submitted to local authoritie­s two weeks after it departed.

A finding shared with this newspaper states that “during its visit, the team interviewe­d the relatives of the deceased. “… one of the relatives referenced a politicall­y exposed person who communicat­ed with the family and requested of them to lie and say that the murders were politicall­y influenced and in return that they will be looked after.”

The family member present at the conference denied every making any such statement to the team.

Persons wishing to contact the GPF with informatio­n are asked to use one of these telephone numbers: 225-6411, 2266978, 225- 8196, 226- 1326, 225- 2227, 225- 3650, 225- 7625, 227- 1149, 2320291, 232-0213, 330-2222, 911, or contact the nearest Police Station.

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Nigel Hughes

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