SEE BELOW STATEMENT BY THE GUYANA POLICE FORCE (GPF)
The GPF notes the press conference held on Friday by Mr. Dion Bascom in the company of his attorney Nigel Hughes and states the following:
Crime Chief Mr. Wendell Blanhum during the GPF’s press conference on 2022-08-17 made it clear that the GPF is currently being assisted by an internationally recognized law enforcement agency in conducting the Ricardo Fagundes murder probe and that several foreign experts/investigators also visited CID HQ and have since provided assistance to local police.
Items recovered from the crime scene were also sent overseas for analysis.
We are still awaiting the results of that analysis to continue our investigations.
This bit of information seems to have eluded Mr. Hughes or he is simply being mischievous.
Sgt Bascom continues his unintelligent and wholly inaccurate interpretation of the work he was observing from the back seat of a car, by his superior officer, by claiming that the officer was in some magical and “Star Wars like” manner using a computer to triangulate the position of a suspect and track his movements in a murder case, hours after the murder took place.
It is important to firmly state that there is no equipment existing anywhere in the world in 2022 that could achieve such a magical task.
Mr. Hughes also positively stated that the late former Commissioner of Police Henry Greene had said that the Guyana Police Force is in receipt of an equipment that can accomplish such task. The GPF challenges and in fact dares Nigel Hughes to provide proof that such equipment as described by Sgt Bascom exists anywhere in the world today.
The Guyana Police Force therefore wishes to firmly state that at no time whatsoever was Bascom at the crime scene on official duty. And any such claims made by Bacom are blatant lies.
The Guyana Police Force stands by its position that Rondell Bacchus was presented to the CID ranks in the CID Headquarters by his Attorney.
The Attorney for Mr. Bascom has demanded that the GPF produces the diary entry of the arrest of Rondell Bacchus but this is quite unprecedented, unusual and contrary to the long-standing legal principle that “he who asserts must prove”.
Moreover, Mr. Nigel Hughes cannot seek to tarnish the reputation of hard-working policemen by using the word ‘undoctored’ in an effort to build public sympathy as is his modus operandi in cases of this nature. Such utterances are irresponsible, irrational and dangerous coming from a member of the Bar and should be immediately retracted.
Notwithstanding, this information as regard of how Mr. Bacchus arrived at the station is of no material importance to the ongoing murder investigation.
The Police Force stands by its statement that it was Roger Khan through his lawyer who made claims that Rondell Bacchus was one of the suspects captured on CCTV footage who opened fire on Ricardo Fagundes. Khan also said he has information that Mark Richmond was the driver of the getaway car.
The media and public are reminded that at our press conference it was further disclosed that “Roger Khan through his attorney-at-law, provided the information to the police on the 1st April 2021 via Whatsapp at 20:18 hours and sent the telephone numbers for Rondel Bacchus and Mark Richmond. He also sent pictures of Rondell Bacchus and that of several men in uniform.”
The Police then made checks at the prison, since the last information the police had on Rondell Bacchus was that he was in prison and a senior prison official indicated that he had since been released and that the ‘information’ or ‘chatter’ from prisoners was that one of the men in the video footage obtained at the crime scene appeared to be Rondell Bacchus.
As stated, checks were made for Rondell Bacchus as a matter of urgency and when these proved futile, the police issued a wanted bulletin on April 06, 2021 for him. A mere hour after the wanted bulletin was published, Rondell Bacchus turned himself in to the police in the company of his lawyer and not in the company of Dion Bascom who made such claims.
Bascom reiterates the fact that the police made efforts to contact Mark Richmond and even searched his residence.
The GPF maintains that Bascom then informed one of his superiors that a popular businessman from Essequibo was using him to go after Mark Richmond who is known to him.
Investigators have knowledge that Bascom and the said businessman are close friends.
