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Police blast media for exposing Lusignan Massacre eyewitness

Mar 06, 2014 News

The Guyana police force is upset at recent publications in the media which it said could endanger the life of the state witness in the Lusignan Massacre trial.
The Force in a press statement yesterday, accused some sections of the media of being unprofessional and reckless, claiming that their recent publications in relation to the witness Dwane Williams could negatively impact the prosecution’s case.
Williams, who claimed that he was a member of the notorious criminal gang led by the late Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins, had become a witness for the prosecution in the trial of two other gang members, who were charged with the January 26, 2008 murders of 11 people at Lusignan on the East Coast of Demerara.
He had testified that he was a participant when the gang raided Tract A, Lusignan Pasture and slaughtered the 11 victims, which included five children.
The two accused were however set free in the high court and the Director of Public Prosecutions has appealed the acquittal.
“… the Guyana Police Force is expressing its concern at what it considers to be unprofessional and reckless journalism. This is in view of the fact that some of the contents of the articles inclusive of the location of the witness, not only endangers the life of the individual who is in police protective custody as it complicates the police security plans, but that it also borders on witness tampering as it may negatively impact on the witness’s continued willingness to co-operate,” the police statement said, without going into further details.
This newspaper had published an article in which the survivors of the Lusignan Massacre had demanded that the murder charge be re-instated against the witness.
This newspaper along with other sections of the media had also published statements made by Attorney- at-law Nigel Hughes, to the effect that the state had allowed the witness who confessed to being linked to the murders of close to three dozen persons to go free in exchange for his testimony against other accused.
The Director of Public Prosecutions Shalimar Ali-Hack had debunked Hughes’ comments, pointing out that they were made without any attempt to obtain her position on the matter.
According to Mrs. Ali-Hack, at no time did the DPP make any plea bargain deal with the witness Dwane Williams.
“Based on the facts from the investigations, Dwane Williams was an accomplice. It is an old common law practice to allow an accomplice to an offence to testify for the prosecution. It has always been done in the criminal law practice, and continues to be done. It is a lawful practice with which all criminal law practitioners are quite familiar,” the DPP stated.
While the Guyana Police Force is upset with certain disclosures, efforts by this newspaper to seek clarity on the matter from them have been met with utter silence for the past three months.
This stems from the lack of cooperation with this newspaper by certain senior officers of the police force on contentious matters.
The disclosure of the witness’s whereabouts also speaks volumes of the police witness protection plan, since it was no secret for the past six years where the teen was being held.

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