Barama River dredge murder… Killers fled without robbing camp

Sep 08, 2009 News

The gunmen who carried out Saturday’s deadly assault on a Barama River mining dredge left money and valuable equipment untouched, police and the owner of the mining operation confirmed yesterday.

Morris Hopkinson, owner of Hopkinson Mining Enterprise, Bartica, told Kaieteur News that from all reports, the gunmen left in a boat shortly after killing his general manager, 39-year-old Regerton Simon, and badly wounding Malvin Edwards, raising further questions about the gunmen’s motive.

A police statement also said that ranks visited the scene and found the production money and equipment intact.

According to Hopkinson, the crew had transported a quantity of gold from the dredge some days ago. At the time of the attack, the crew also had some gold in the ‘sluice box’ that had not been ‘washed down’.

He also said that the gunmen left valuable equipment on the dredge untouched. “It’s strange, if they had come to rob they would have killed everybody. It does not sound like a robbery,” Hopkinson said.

The police statement said that Simon, Edwards and four Brazilians were on the dredge when three men drove up in a 15 horsepower-propelled boat and fired two shots at them.

Simon, called ‘Baba’, succumbed from a shotgun blast to the chest.

His body was transported from the interior to the Lyken Funeral Parlour at around 16:00 hrs yesterday.

Malvin Edwards, a 33-year-old welder, was struck with gunshot pellets to the head, chest and right arm.

He also suffered a punctured lung.

Edwards is being treated at the Georgetown Hospital’s High Dependency Unit. He is said to be still suffering from some internal bleeding and underwent a CAT scan yesterday. Unable to speak but communicating by writing,

Edwards related on Sunday that he was in the upper section of the dredge, and his manager and three Brazilians were on the bottom flat when he heard several explosive sounds.

He was shot and knocked unconscious when he rushed outside to investigate.

Edwards stated that when he eventually recovered, he was lying on the floor and bleeding. Nevertheless, he crawled in search of the GM and eventually found Simon lying dead on the floor in a pool of blood. According to his report, he did not see the four Brazilians who were working on the dredge.

Kaieteur News was told that the Brazilians fled to another camp and informed the owner of the attack. They were then transported to the Port Kaituma Police Station.

Hopkinson had told Kaieteur News that persons in the area had seen the same men pass his dredge earlier in the day. He had also alleged that some Barama residents had voiced their resentment about the presence of his mining concession in the area.

According to Hopkinson, a Toshao had ordered them to shift the operation from another area in the Barama River about two months ago. Kaieteur News was also told that some disgruntled residents from the community had boarded the dredge, after claiming that the operation was polluting the river.

Hopkinson told Kaieteur News that he had moved his dredge about two miles away from the previous spot.