Latest update November 25th, 2024 1:00 AM
Latest News
- ExxonMobil commences design for 7th project as Gov’t remains ‘iffy’ over approval
- Gov’t extends deadline for proposals on second phase of Gas-to-Energy project
- Hezbollah rockets land near Tel Aviv after big Israeli strike on Beirut
- 121 drivers nabbed speeding, 248 with unauthorised tinted glass
- Cop stabbed by Venezuelan national
Rodney Commission of Inquiry…Gouveia reflects he may have flown suspect one day after incident
– “I can’t say with 100% certainty”
By Latoya Giles
“At that moment in time, I felt that the man in the picture (Gregory Smith) looked like the man on my
Captain Gerald Gouveia
aircraft… but I never knew for sure… I can’t say with 100% certainty, but there was an anomaly in my mind.”
Former Army Pilot and now owner of Roraima Airways, Captain Gerald Gouveia said yesterday he had flown an army aircraft to Kwakwani on June 14, 1980, one day after Leader of the Working People’s Alliance Dr. Walter Rodney, had died in a bomb blast.
Gouveia, who was another witness called in the ongoing Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry, said that his passengers included a man, a woman and some children. According to Gouveia, he did not have any particular interest in the male, denying that he had any knowledge at the time that it could have been Gregory Smith on board.
Captain Gouveia has been accused of flying a military aircraft with Smith to Kwakwani shortly after the Friday, June 13, 1980 death of Dr. Walter Rodney, thereby aiding in Smith’s escape. Gouveia told the commission that he had been given an order to transport the persons to Kwakwani by his superior officers. He said that it would not be unusual for him to take orders from the officers without questioning them.
Further, Gouveia said that it wasn’t usual too for him not to engage in conversations with his passengers. According to the pilot, nothing about the passengers caused him to feel “concerned”. He noted that part of his training as a pilot is being “conscious” about things and on that day he had no “concerns”.
Gouveia explained that since he paid no particular attention to the people, if he saw them today he may not be able to recognize them.
“As a military Pilot, a junior rank, it was not unusual not to have discussions… we operated in a regimental way and we took part in a range of flight operations including transporting civilians,” he noted.
Gouveia said that in 1980 it was not compulsory to log the names of passengers, even as he showed his personal log book to the Commission.
The witness said that days later he saw a photograph in a newspaper of a man who looked like the male on his plane.
Gouveia told the commission that with him being a junior rank and knowing that he could have possibly transported Smith, he did not investigate to find out for sure if it was.
He denied categorically that he knowingly provided an escape for Gregory Smith, adding that the fact that he may have done so did not burden his conscience or trouble him at all.
He pointed out, however, that the news which surfaced immediately after and in the years after Rodney’s death had left a lot of open questions in his mind.
“From what I read about Rodney he was expelled from Jamaica and Africa….I was a young army officer carrying out my duties with pride and dignity,” Gouveia told the commission.
The witness said that Donald Rodney’s account of what happened on June 13, 1980, was not impressive.
“Why would a leader of a party venture into the night on that adventure to test a walkie talkie?” Gouveia questioned.
He also emphasised that he has no clear, definite conclusion on the part that Gregory Smith played in the death of Walter Rodney.
Under cross examination and direct questioning from Chairman Sir Richard Cheltenham, Gouveia maintained that he did not know he transported Smith on June 14, 1980 and that he never did much investigation. He also denied that he visited Kwakwani again – specifically on June 17 with two other men, inquiring about Smith.
Under cross examination Gouveia also denied that he had any detailed conversations with former Major General Norman McLean.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The business class also funds undemocratic parties
…Peeping Tom Kaieteur News- There’s a peculiar phenomenon in Guyana, a sort of cyclical ritual, where members of... more
Rising Gun Crimes in the Caribbean: Urgent Action required by all
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – There is an alarming surge in gun-related violence, particularly among younger... more
Weekend Cartoon
