Police still hunting “trigger man” in cop killing

May 03, 2013 News

By Dale Andrews

Police continue to hunt for a second suspect in the killing of Corporal Romain Cleto.
Kaieteur News was reliably informed that the man was positively identified as the ‘shooter’ in the cop’s murder.
According to a source, the man is well known to police having survived several execution attempts himself.
Investigators appear very positive that there will soon be justice in Cleto’s killing following the apprehension of the first of the prime suspects.

Corporal Romain Cleto

It is not clear if the suspect in custody is cooperating with investigators, since he has proclaimed his innocence of the crime.
Corporal Cleto was gunned down at the busy Regent Street and Avenue of the Republic intersection last Saturday night.
Kaieteur News was also informed that checks are being made on the spent shells and investigators are expected to make some disclosures about the weapon that fired them.
“We will solve this one,” a senior police officer confidently declared.
Evidence is now emerging that Cleto and his colleagues were not wearing their bulletproof vests when they attempted to confront the suspects in a suspicious car that they had been trailing before coming under attack.
Kaieteur News was told that their bulletproof vests were recovered from the interior of their bullet-riddled vehicle.
There are also reports that one of the ranks dropped his rifle while fleeing from the hail of bullets that pierced the vehicle.
According to a source, fortunately the weapon was reportedly retrieved by a public-spirited individual and handed back to officials at the Brickdam Police Station.
Meanwhile the main opposition party, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), has expressed deep concern with the repeated instances of death of policemen in the performance of their duties.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, APNU said that the regular attacks on policemen have the potential to undermine the institution of law and order as well as the morale of members of the Guyana Police Force.
Since the death of Corporal Cleto, APNU is the first parliamentary group to come out in condemnation of the attacks on the country’s lawmen.
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee is still to issue a statement, although he promised last Sunday that he would.
In fact the Minister was very dismissive when this newspaper contacted him for a comment on the slaying of the lawman.
APNU extended sympathy to the Commissioner of Police and to the parents, relatives and friends of the deceased Corporal Romain Cleto “who met his death in tragic circumstances.”
The party noted that within recent times, apart from Cleto’s death, “a Constable, who was well known in Berbice for his enforcement of the law against drug traffickers, was murdered.
This was followed by two Constables who were also murdered in the hinterland last year during a period when there is no heightened criminal situation in the country”.
“APNU is once again renewing its call for the Government to take immediate steps to reform the Guyana Police Service and to provide the organization with the training and resources it badly needs to execute its mandate.”
According to APNU, the Government is in possession of several recommendations to guide its efforts at improving law enforcement but, for some inexplicable reason, seems unable or unwilling to do what is necessary to establish a Police Service that is capable of defending itself; maintaining public safety, order and security; as well as ensuring observance of the Laws of Guyana.
The party said that it has noted with interest the government’s embrace of the Citizen Security Project “and expects that their preferred approach develops members of the Force in the relevant areas of law enforcement that is pertinent to the threats confronting the country as a whole and the Guyana Police Service in particular.”