“My uncle did not deserve to die like that” – Niece of Lindo Creek victim testifies

DPI, GUYANA, Thursday, March 22, 2018

“He was a lovely uncle. He was more than an uncle to me because as I can remember we had our moments as a family. We laughed, and so forth. But my uncle was loving and caring. He was someone who looked out for you,” Rhonda Hutson, niece of Compton Speirs, giving evidence at the ongoing investigation into the murder of the miners.

Hutson said her uncle “did not deserve a death like that. Because it is hard. It was ten years ago, but it seems like yesterday we got the news.” She said she can’t wrap her mind around what he must have been thinking and feeling at that time.

“I question myself and ask how? I can imagine when we get burnt how we feel. It’s like when you’re sleeping, and someone throws water on you, how you react when your eyes are open. I don’t know if they were sleeping or whatever, but imagine you are sleeping and someone shoots all around you.”

Hutson said what is even more devastating is the fact that the family did not get her uncle’s remains, to at least give some closure. “All we have is memories, the good times. It’s painful for all of us,” she told the commission, fighting back tears.

Meanwhile, returning to the stand today, Courtney Wong, older brother of Lindo Creek victim, Clifton Wong, reported that some soldiers might have spotted the fire that consumed the eight miners after they were shot and killed.

Wong told the COI that on June 21, 2008, during a visit to the scene, he overheard two military officers discussing the fire they might have seen during their surveillance.

“This had to be the fire that we saw during the surveillance,” was what Wong reportedly heard from the two soldiers.

The commission, which is being held at the Ministry of the Presidency, will meet again for public hearings on Tuesday, March 27, 2018.

 

By: Alexis Rodney