Govt. sends police to the U.S. to serve summons on Rickford Burke

Dec 21, 2023 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Government on December 13 sent a policeman to the United States of America (USA) to serve political commentator Rickford Burke with a court summons, police confirmed on Wednesday.

Rickford Burke

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) explained that it had filed two charges against Burke in his absence on August 18, 2023, after issuing two wanted bulletins for him in 2021 and 2022 respectively. The charges were filed at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court but Burke was not present.

“As such, the Magistrate ordered that the ‘defendant summons’ be prepared and served on Rickford Burke to attend the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court on the 28th day of March 2024,” police revealed.

The summons was reportedly prepared and on December 13, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Rodwell Sarabo boarded a plane and headed to the US, with orders that he delivers the document to Burke’s residence.

“On the 16th December 2023, ASP Rodwell Sarabo met with Mark Wesserman, a Process Server based in the United States of America and they served both defendant summons on Rickford Burke at his home address at Maple Street, Brooklyn, New York,” police said.

Murdered policeman, Quincy Lewis

The wanted fugitives implicated in the murder of the police rank.

In 2021, the police issued a wanted bulletin for Burke, stating that he had allegedly engaged in, the excitement of hostility or ill-will on the grounds of Race, under the Racial Hostility Act, sedition under the Cyber Crime Act, use of a computer system to coerce and intimidate a person, under the Cyber Crime Act, seditious Libel contrary to common law, seditious libel under the peace under the Summary Jurisdiction Offences Act, inciting public terror under the Criminal Law Offences Act.

In 2022, another bulletin was issued for Burke, stating that he had allegedly conspired to commit a felony and the publication of defamation libel in order to extort money from Afras Mohammed, BM Soat’s boss.

The GPF warned that the same actions that it has taken in summoning Burke to Court will be done for persons who live abroad and engage in criminal activity.

Notably, the Force has not the same for murder suspects and other fugitives living abroad despite issuing wanted bulletins for them. One such case is the cold-blooded murder of one of its own, a police rank, Quincy Lewis.

Lewis had been missing for three years until his skeletal remains were found in April this year buried in a shallow grave at Madewini, Linden-Soesdyke Highway. Investigations later revealed that the cop was lured into a death trap where he was killed from the bullet of a gun.

Two men have been remanded for being part of his murder. According to reports, the suspects never confessed to shooting Lewis, but claimed that a woman and her husband committed the heinous crime and they participated in moving the body and transporting it to the location where it was buried.

Police had issued wanted bulletins for the couple, identified as Thakurdial Samaroo, and Naqueeba Zahid Zafarali also known as Naqueeba Zafarali. It was learnt that these individuals fled the jurisdiction.

Kaieteur News understands that the Police Force had received information that they had fled to Suriname after the murder of Lewis.

Despite the fact that the couple was placed on the INTERPOL’s ‘Red Notice List’ and the Force assuring that it will use all legal means necessary to extradite the couple, it has never moved to file charges against the wanted fugitives in their absence.