“You will see results”- Lindo Creek CoI Chairman tells Kwakwani residents – criticizes former government for failing to hold earlier inquest
DPI, GUYANA, Saturday, May 19, 2018
Chairman of the Lindo Creek Commission of Inquiry retired Justice Donald Trotman has assured residents of Kwakwani, Upper Demerara- Upper Berbice that their calls for justice will not go unanswered.
The Chairman made the promise last Saturday, during a public conversation held at the Kwakwani workers’ club. The public conversation was part of a four-day outreach to the region.
According to Justice Trotman, the commission should have been established at the very moment the incident occurred.
“This commission should have been set up ten years ago, or an inquest to investigate the same things we are investigating ten years after. An inquest should have been held ten years ago, but it wasn’t,” he said.
According to him, many of the persons who have been condemning the commission’s work, had it in their power before, to conduct out a thorough investigation into the deaths. He said the “right president” has appointed the “right man to do the right job” and “We will see the right results because the right has been done even though it is ten years ago.”
The commission chairman said the truth is oftentimes elusive, in many cases for years. He said, however, “one day the truth will be out. It will come to light,” he assured the residents.
On June 21, 2008, the burnt bodies of Dax Arokium, Cedric Arokium, Compton Speirs, Horace Drakes, Nigel Torres, Bonny Harry, Clifton Wong and Lancelot Lee, were discovered at Lind0 Creek, by mining camp owner Leonard Arokium.
The fingers were pointed in the direction of the joint services that were patrolling the area at the time.
Part of the commission’s visit to the region included a visit to the Lindo Creek campsite, where the men’s bodies were found. The journey was arduous but the chairman said the commission needed to make the journey to clarify questions that lingered during the investigation.
While the public hearing of the Inquiry came to an end last Tuesday, the chairman and his team are still working privately to reach a conclusion
By Alexis Rodney