Mom’s persistence helps cops find gunman who executed son

Apr 18, 2016 News

“From the beginning I told them who did it. I told them everything I got but they never showed any interest. It was only when Corporal Lowe took over then I got justice…” – Ulice Lanferman

By: Romila Boodram

While it takes years for some people to get justice after their loved one would have been brutally murdered, it only took a few months for one mother, but her journey wasn’t an easy one.
It was one that was filled with disappointments and obstacles but she never gave up.
On the night of June 1, 2015, 23-year-old Terrence Lanferman, of Lot 37 Nelson Street, Mocha, East Bank Demerara, responded to someone knocking at his front door.
When he opened the door, his ‘visitor’ whipped out a gun and pumped several bullets into his body. The killer escaped with an accomplice on a motorcycle.
After her son was killed, his mother, Ulice Lanferman, practically lived at the Providence and Brickdam police stations.
She was always there, trying to find out whether the police had any new leads about her son’s murder. For nine months, she continued to receive negative responses from ranks in the Guyana Police Force.
Every time she received any information, she would pass these tips on to the officer who was handling the case. But she says that at times, her input was treated as being insignificant. Months passed, and Ulice Lanferman was forced to look at the persons who she was informed had executed her son, as they traversed the village.
But last week, police took Kenkassie Lynch, an Eccles, East Bank resident into custody. Under interrogation, he allegedly confessed to killing Terrence Lanferman. He also implicated a cousin of his, whose only name has been given as “Birdman.”
Lynch allegedly told investigators that he killed the 23-year-old electrician as a favour for his cousin, “Birdman,” since the duo had an ongoing feud for quite some time.

Ulice hugs her son’s shirt as she recalls their time together

Executed: Terrence Lanferman

The suspect said that it was his cousin who took him to the scene on a CG motorcycle.
Kaieteur News understands that Lynch told investigators that he carried out the killing a few days after returning from Cayenne, French Guiana, where he had reportedly lived for some three years. “Birdman” has not been arrested as yet.
Mrs. Lanferman gave credit to police Corporal Devon Lowe and Assistant Superintendent Mitchell Caesar.
She said that the two cops listened and worked with her from the time they took over the case till the end.
The woman said that it was Corporal Lowe who took Lynch into custody and this later led to a confession.
Going back to the night of the murder, the woman said that she was at work when one of her co-workers rushed to her and demanded that she immediately go to the supervisor’s office.
When she got there, she was told to go home but no one would tell her what had happened.
As she was preparing to leave her workplace, she spotted one of her cousins crying bitterly. She was then told to go to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
“When I got there, then I heard that my son was shot and that he was inside the accident and emergency unit. I had no idea that he had died, it was after 10:00 (pm) I heard he died,” the woman claimed.
Mrs. Lanferman said that she was informed that two cousins had killed her son, but had no idea as to why they would want to kill him.
“I heard who the shooter was and the very next day I went with this information to the police officer. The person who was doing the initial investigation had no time with me,” the mother said.
“It wasn’t easy meeting with him (the police who started the investigation). Just as I finish giving the statement after the funeral, that was it, it was very frustrating. He (police) showed no interest in the matter I told him everything but he ignored me.”
The mother is of the opinion that her son’s murder could have been solved sooner had the police listened to her.
“From the beginning I told them who did it. I told them everything I got but they never showed any interest. It was only when Corporal Lowe took over then I got justice,” the woman lamented.
In her quest for justice, she was forced to visit the Crime Chief, Wendell Blanhum twice. “He was very supportive and he gave me assurance.”
Last week, ranks from the Major Crimes Unit questioned Kenkassie Lynch, who allegedly gave them a detailed account of how he killed Lanferman.
Two days before the murder, he allegedly went to Mocha on a new CG motorcycle, which had no licence plates, to meet some of his relatives.
While there, he spoke with a male cousin and the two men bought and smoked a ‘spliff.’ They reportedly then disclosed that he and Terrence Lanferman had an ongoing feud, and that he, (the cousin), wanted to end it.
However, the cousin also complained that he was well known and that “Mocha people like talk.”
At that stage, Lynch, the suspect, allegedly told the cousin that he could end the feud that they could go to the intended victim’s house on the CG motorcycle, since it was unregistered.
On Monday, June 1, 2015, Lynch allegedly returned to Mocha and met his cousin. He then went to Nelson Street, located in the same community, to conduct surveillance on Terrence Lanferman’s house, which is located in the bottom flat of a two-storey building.
He then returned to his cousin’s house, and at around 19.00 hours, the cousin allegedly gave him a handgun. The two headed back to Nelson Street on the CG motorcycle.
While the cousin waited in a nearby street, Lynch allegedly went to Lanferman’s residence and knocked on the front door.
Terrence Lanferman opened his front door to greet his visitor, only to be reportedly confronted by the gunman.
“I just put one shot in he and he fall to the ground in the house,” Lynch allegedly told investigators. The two cousins then fled the scene on the motorcycle.
The killer allegedly then gave his cousin the handgun and returned to Eccles.
Lynch is said to have told investigators that his cousin had badly wanted to have Lanferman killed, and had assured Lynch that no one would know that he had committed the execution, since no one in Mocha knew him.
He is set to be charged this week.
Reacting to the arrest, and the way the case was initially handled, Ulice Lanferman said:
“When police doing these investigations, they should put themselves in the position of the victim’s family and treat people how they would expect to be treated.”
The mother said that she is extremely happy that after all this time; justice is on its way. “At times, I was very frustrated but I tell myself that I will go all out until justice was served.”
She is now calling on the relatives of the second suspect, “Birdman” to come forward and stop hiding him. “He killed my son and now he should come forward and let my son get justice.”
Meanwhile, Blanhum said that police are making every effort to locate and apprehend the cousin, “Birdman.”