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Bartica Massacre trial…Accused recalls joining partner on gun toting trip to Bartica
The Caution Statement, (CS) taken from murder accused, Dennis Williams, was yesterday admitted into evidence before Justice Roxanne George and a mixed 12-member jury.
Dennis Williams called Anaconda
Williams, called “Anaconda,” is one of three men on trial for the February 17, 2008 killings at Bartica.
According to reports, at approximately 21:40 hours on that date, gunmen attacked Bartica, slaughtering one dozen people, including three policemen during an hour-long strafing. It was reported that the gunmen attacked the police station first, killing the policemen and freeing prisoners.
The men allegedly then took the vehicle assigned to the police station and went on a rampage, terrorizing the community before departing the island by boat, taking with them firearms they had grabbed from the police station and from a mining company.
When the trial continued at the Georgetown High Court yesterday, Police Witness Trevor Reid was called to the stand by State Prosecutors Stacey Goodings and Diana Kaulesar.
Officer Reid testified to obtaining the caution statement from Williams after he was arrested. He then proceeded to read the Caution statement taken from Williams in open court, yesterday.
According to the statement which Officer Reid read aloud to the court, Williams told police that he joined his friend, Clebert Reece, whom he knew as “Chi Chi,” on a trip to collect something from the “bush.”
The accused told police that the trip started with a boat ride from Kingston, Georgetown.
“Me and Chi Chi left wid the boat from the back of the wharf at Kingston and we reach dem man pon land at the back of some place. Me ain’t really know the place. About five or six ah dem come pun the boat wid nuff big guns,” the witness read.
According to the witness, Williams recalled travelling by boat to Bartica. After reaching the community, Williams told the police that the men disembarked the vessel but he remained in the boat with a group of young men whom he met when they arrived.
“Me and a couple youth man stay in the boat and Chi Chi and them man went on land with the guns. Shortly after, we hear shooting.”
The shooting, he said lasted for about 20 minutes “and them man come back on the boat with two big canisters.”
“Then them youth man that went wid me stick up some men pon the Stelling and before them man could go in the boat, they shoot them.”
In his statement, Williams further told police that although he witnessed the shooting at the stelling he could not identify the shooters because, he didn’t know the “youth men.”
However, he said Chi Chi and the others joined the boat again and they drove up the river.
In the statement, the accused further told investigators, that the men abandoned the boat up the river and ventured into the bush with the canister; they traveled through the bush until they came to a camp and joined a 4X4 pickup truck.
According to the statement which Officer Reid read, the accused and Chi Chi spent about two days in the bush before they travelled to Georgetown.
Williams also told police that he did not see what was in the canister but Chi Chi gave him about three ounces of raw gold.
The next day, he took the raw gold and converted it to cash under the clock at Stabroek Market.
“Me ain’t know the man but he give me about $200,000 fuh de gold. Me buy clothes wid some ah the money and me spent out the rest pun food and other things. That is all I know, me ain’t know who plan it. Me bin go with Chi Chi in the bush to collect something…
“Dem man give the gold because me see what happen… To tell you the truth Big man (Officer), ah vex about the whole thing,” Williams’ statement concluded.
Moments after it was read into evidence, the authenticity of the statement was taken to task by Williams’s attorney, Saphier Hussein. The attorney had suggested to the witness that his client was beaten to give the alleged statement.
Hussein also suggested that police officers had used “a baton to shock” his client into admitting that he had involvement in the Bartica killings. The witness denied the suggestions.
Several of Hussein’s questions were met with objections from the Prosecution and Judge.
The questions posed by the attorney to the witness were met with a number of “don’t answer that question” from Justice George.
The judge would ask the attorney on occasions to either rephrase the question or tell the witness to completely disregard the question owing to its irrelevance.
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