Rodney’s Assassination probe… Key witness claims death threats since giving testimony …refuses to name implicated Members of Parliament unless afforded protection

A KEY witness in the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (COI) currently underway says he has become fearful for his life and will withhold the names of the two sitting Parliamentarians and Constitutional Office Holders, he implicated in the plot to kill the late WPA Leader in 1980, if not afforded some protection.Robert Gates, the witness who approached the COI recently to give a second round of submissions, in an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle, yesterday, said he is now fearful for life, since he has been receiving threats directly and indirectly.

He even named a Prison Officer, whom he said has been issuing some ‘not so subtle’ threats in his direction.
According to Gates, apart from the messages being sent his way that persons were going to kill him, he has also been greeted with chants of “PPP Kochore, PPP Kochore,” when returned to his ‘holding cell’ in the evenings.

The chants and threats, according to Gates, are coming from very violent high profile prisoners housed at the Camp Street Facility, where he is also an inmate.
Gates told this publication that he and many of the Prison Officers share very amicable relationships, but then there are instances with others which are causing him to become even more fearful.
“Eh eh, you ain’t dead yet,” was the retort of one such prison officer, at least according to Gates, the last time they encountered each other.
Gates was incarcerated last year on 12 counts of obtaining money under false pretense, charges he vehemently calls ‘trumped up’, stemming from contractual misunderstandings.

Robert Gates in the witness box at the Dr Walter Rodney COI

The former senior police rank, under sworn testimony to the COI, claims to have infiltrated the WPA at the behest of the State during the volatile 1979 to 1980 period.
In fact, Gates alleged that there was a meeting “two or three days” prior to the June 13, 1980 explosion that killed Dr Rodney, where the Late President, Forbes Burnham, was briefed by his Security Chiefs on the assassination plot.
Under oath, Gates told the COI that he learnt that the former President was briefed by former Commissioner of Police, Laurie Lewis; former Crime Chief, Skip Roberts and the then Army Chief, Norman Mc Lean.
The meeting, Gates said, was confirmed by two ranks of the Guyana Police Force he quizzed, while the content of the meeting was related to him by one of Burnham’s close-man (security detail), a man he identified as Sergeant Mark Johnson.
Gates returned to the witness dock this past week and told the COI that he had previously withheld some of the information such as the meeting with Burnham for security reasons.
He said that while he was prepared to speak openly about many of what was withheld during his previous round of evidence-in-chief, some of the information he would only divulge during an in-camera session where the information would not be released to the public for fear of retaliation.
During his interview with this publication yesterday, Gates said ever since his testimony, he has been receiving threats to his life.
He does believe that the threats are being engineered from outside the prison walls. “I am fearful for my life,” said the former police ‘Death Squad’ member.
According to Gates, while he has been granted bail, it is an exorbitant amount that he cannot afford.
He told the Guyana Chronicle that he has appealed both the charges against him and is petitioning the Court of Appeal to reduce his bail.
Gates believe that he was victimised by not only the Magistrate that sentenced him but by the Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang, who set the bail amount pending his outcome of the appeal.
He is adamant that until he is assured of his life’s safety, he will not be releasing the names of the sitting Members of Parliament and Constitutional Office Holders, in-camera or otherwise.
Under cross examination on Tuesday last, Gates said that he approached the Commission to give a second statement with new information since at the time he had previously given evidence the “environment” was not right for him to divulge all that he knew.
“I am not in a free world like you…a person can easily lose their lives in prison,” were among the fears expressed by Robert Gates on that occasion.

(By Gary Eleazar)