By Fareeza Haniff
A young labourer, who claims he was working on the rooftop of a nearby building on March 15 last, has claimed that the three men killed by Police were in fact executed, with no “shoot-out’ taking place, and with one of them being beaten first.
However, he has also claimed that from where he was, he could not tell if the men were indeed armed or if in fact they fired at the Police.
Devon Lyte of McDoom, East Bank Demerara, said he was working on the roof of the Guyana Softball Association on Carifesta Avenue and saw what happened. He told his story Monday morning in the presence of prominent attorney Nigel Hughes at Hughes’ Hadfield Street, Georgetown law offices.
The three men shot dead were: 46-year old Dextroy “Dutty” Cordis of Grove, East Bank Demerara; 37-year-old Kwame Assanah; and 57-year old Errol “Dynamite” Adams.
Hughes said that based on Lyte’s version of events, it suggests that the three men were not armed and did not resist arrest.
Attorney Hughes told reporters that the driver of a black car – who has since been identified as Assanah – was on the ground being physically assaulted for about 10 to 15 minutes before the gunfire erupted and the three occupants of the car turned up dead.
At the time of the incident, Lyte said he was on the roof with two other workers, when he heard a “banging sound” coming the direction of the seawall.
Lyte, in a written statement to the media, said that when he looked up he saw that the police had blocked off the road at the head of Camp Street and saw there were two cars driving along the seawall road.
“A black car was in front and it was being followed by a silver car,” Lyte said.
The black car has since been identified as a Toyota IST, owned by Kwame Assahnah, who was killed by the police, while the silver car is said to be the police vehicle.
Lyte alleged that the gunshots were coming from the police car; he claimed that the black vehicle stopped and someone exited and stood at the front driver door, after which “someone” from the police car exited and walked towards the black car.
“I then saw the person from the silver car start to beat the person who had come out from the driver’s side and was lying on the ground. He beat the one person while he was on the ground. Then after twenty minutes, I heard rapid gunfire.
“At the time when I heard the rapid gunfire there was one person standing over the same person who was lying on the ground,” Lyte recalled.
He said that about ten to fifteen minutes after the shooting, policemen from Camp Street ran up the road; there was a photographer with them.
The police had claimed that “Dynamite,” a known character of Dartmouth, Essequibo Coast and Buxton, East Coast Demerara was shot dead, while his accomplice escaped on a CG motorcycle that was near the motorcar in which Cordis and Assanah were travelling.
But Attorney Hughes told reporters that there was “no motorcycle that disappeared with any mysterious pillion rider or mysterious rider…the events are disturbing to say the least.”
The police had claimed that the men in the black car were trailing a customer who had just left Scotia Bank on Robb Street, but Hughes, however, questioned why a customer who just withdrew $9.2M from the bank would decide to drive on the seawall road.
“This was not just a group of police officers who appeared to be involved but this had to have some sort of coordination…the seawall road was blocked off prior to the eruption of gunfire…” the well-known lawyer pointed out.
According to Hughes, the facts as provided by Lyte, seem to suggest that the three men were executed.
“Last night, I spoke to the relatives of the gentlemen who was from Buxton, and he had ten bullets in his body; the other had six. So I’m not sure where the gunfight took place,” Hughes said.
Hughes said that a private firm will pursue whether the Post Mortem report of the men indicated that there were other injuries on their bodies.
When questioned whether the two other labourers on the roof corroborated Lyte’s version of events, Hughes denied comment on the grounds that he does not have “the capacity to provide them with the protection they need.”
The lawyer said that Lyte too is very concerned about his safety. Hughes is expected to accompany the young man to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) later today where he will again relay what he saw.
Meanwhile, the family of Cordis has since retained the services of Hughes to pursue justice.
His sisters appeared at the press conference where they noted that “the story told by the police is one that is not true.”
“It is my desire that the policemen be brought to justice that murdered my brother. It is my belief that all three men were murdered,” she stated.
News Room had reported that the aftermath of the shooting left more questions than answers and the family of Assanah had claimed that he was wrongfully killed.
See that story here: https://newsroom.gy/2018/03/16/was-kwame-assanah-wrongfully-killed-by-the-police-family-wants-answers/
