they tied them up

micevan1l6

Fifteen months after the discovery of the charred remains of eight miners in a burnt-out Camp at Lindo Creek, Berbice River, the person who police say was an eyewitness to the slaughter is still in custody.Kaieteur News understands that the alleged eyewitness, a teenager from the village of Buxton, is being held in protective custody at the Alberttown Police Station under a different name.A source there told Kaieteur News that police are referring to the youth under a name other than his real name, since they are fearful that he may be identified.The controversy surrounding the slaying of the miners still remains a hot topic althoughPolice Commissioner Henry Greene had disclosed in July last year that an eyewitness had given investigators a detailed account of what transpired at the camp.Questions still abound as to whether the massacre was the work of the security forces who were carrying out operations in the area or that of the fleeing Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins and his gang.Greene had told reporters that the identity of the eyewitness could not be disclosed at that time.The youth was observed being transported to the Vigilance Police Station unlike most other high-profile prisoners, who are shackled and handcuffed.“The eyewitness has said that the men were attacked by ‘Fineman’ and his gang. They went there the night, basically they attacked the men, they tied them up, they cooked, ecetera, and then the next night they were shot and killed,” Greene had stated.He added that the eyewitness related that after the shooting, one of the victims was still alive and he was beaten with a hammer until he succumbed.“That is what we have. We have how they arrived there, we have all the details. That is all I can give you for now,” Greene had explained.The incident reportedly occurred even as the Joint Services were pursuing Rawlins and his gang after raiding their Christmas Falls hideout a few days earlier.According to the top cop, the killer gang arrived at Lindo Creek which is on the opposite side of the Berbice River from the Christmas Falls base.Police had claimed that ballistic tests on the spent shells recovered from the Lindo Creek scene revealed that one of them matched one of the weapons that were recovered by the security forces from gang member Cecil Ramcharran called ‘Uncle Willie’ and Robin Chung called ‘Chung Boy’.The other shells matched those recovered from crime scenes at Bartica and Triumph, East Coast Demerara.However, Leonard Arokium, owner of the mining camp where the miners were killed, has maintained that the killing of his employees was not the work of the now dead Rawlins and his gang.Arokium had expressed strong belief that his employees were killed by members of the security forces operating in the area.He had explained that it would have been foolish for ‘Fine Man’ and his gang who were fleeing from the security forces to risk going to his camp and take the time to burn the bodies of his employees, including his son Dax, after killing them.But although the police are maintaining that they have the eyewitness who obviously would have been a part of the now dismantled Rawlins gang, they have still not instituted charges against him.This newspaper understands that the alleged eyewitness is a teenager who is only charged for the Lusignan massacre.There have been several calls for the production of the alleged eyewitness so as to dispel any theory that is contrary to the disclosures of the police.A similar call was made for the police to produce evidence of a laptop it had insisted was in its possession.This request was facilitated by the police and there has since been some calming of nerves on the issues, although many are still not convinced.