Skip to main content

December 24 ,2020

Source

Dear Editor,

On Tuesday 15 December 2020, Dr. Luis Fondebrider of the Argentine Team of Forensic Anthropology (EAAF), whose visit to Guyana to offer a preliminary assessment in relation to the murders of Isaiah and Joel Henry and Haresh Singh was co-ordinated by the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), gave a  public lecture and presentation at the Brickdam Cathedral on the EAAF’s work worldwide. 

We call on the Guyana Government and the Guyana Police Force to put the interests of the Guyanese people before all other considerations in sparing no effort to have those responsible for the murders of Isaiah and Joel Henry and Haresh Singh brought to justice and bring some form of closure to the agony and pain their families are enduring.

The public lecture by Dr. Fondebrider established clearly the expertise and experience of the EAAF to carry out a detailed, scientifically rigorous and comprehensive investigation into the mutilations and killings of Isaiah and Joel Henry and Haresh Singh based on the best international protocols.

Since early September, all efforts by the Guyana Police Force have failed to produce any clear results and answers to the questions of who carried out the mutilations and killings; where they took place; the motives behind them and who else may have been involved in covering them up.

Guyana is a fractured and divided country and the West Coast Berbice killings exposed the fragility of ethnic relations.

All right thinking Guyanese must not allow this best opportunity to pass.

We call on the President of Guyana, the Commissioner of Police, the Guyana Police Force investigation teams, and the Minister of Home Affairs to immediately make all efforts to have the EAAF return with a full team to carry out a forensic investigation into the murders of Isaiah and Joel Henry and Haresh Singh and to be given full access to autopsy reports and all other evidence collected, including results of investigations so far carried out.

There is no good reason to impede or refuse the expertise of the EAAF to get to the bottom of these gruesome attacks that took the lives of three youths. Any attempt to do so can only be viewed as callous and lacking in humanity.

An additional bonus for Guyana is that the EAAF is ready to offer not only scientific expertise but has also indicated that, in keeping with their practice in other countries which they have worked in, they are prepared to train the Guyana Police Force so that a professional, well trained and resourced Guyanese CSI unit can be established. This expertise is sorely lacking at the moment in Guyana, as has been evident in the many unsolved cases.

The recent actions of the Guyana Police Force towards members of the grieving Henry family who made the journey to Georgetown from West Coast Berbice to attend Dr. Luis  Fondebrider’s presentation and to find solace in a cathedral of support, demonstrate clearly a police force who lack rudimentary training not only in the laws of Guyana as they relate to traffic offences but also in the basic human rights of citizens of Guyana. The failing to address such a simple matter by the Guyana Police Force and the callous treatment meted out to members of the Henry family show more than ever the need for the services of EAAF and the imperative of professional training for the police force at all levels.

Let us not forget the outpouring of support and sympathy by Guyanese from all walks of life, including

private sector associations, civil society and faith-based organizations for the Henry and Singh families the calls for those responsible to be brought to justice and  the condemnation of the ethnic and criminal violence which erupted in response. This is a matter in which Guyanese have voiced their strong opinions across the race and class divides, demonstrating that this is a matter of national importance.

We also call on the heads of the diplomatic community in Guyana to make all efforts to support and encourage the Government of Guyana to allow the EAAF to carry out a comprehensive investigation of the gruesome murders of Isaiah and Joel Henry and Haresh Singh.

A petition in these terms is being sent to President Ali with copies to the Minister of Home Affairs, the Commissioner of Police and the Crime Chief.

Yours faithfully,

Danuta Radzik – Human Rights Activist

Karen de Souza – Red Thread

Alissa Trotz – Lecturer in Caribbean Studies

Vanda Radzik – Citizen

Vidyaratha Kissoon  – Taxpayer

Rev. Patricia Sheerattan-Bisnauth

Bonita Harris – Educator

Raquel Thomas –  Social Justice

Frederick Collins, President of Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc.

Alfred Bhulai – Citizen

Cheryl Sampson – Deputy Chair -Women & Gender Equality Commission

Nicole Cole – Women and Gender Equality Commission

Renata Chuck-A-Sang – Women and Gender Equality Commission

Brian O’Toole – Educator

Dave Martins – Citizen, Musician

Terrence Campbell – Citizen

Jocelyn Dow – Businesswoman

Ayo Dalgety-Dean – Child Rights Activist

Mosa Telford – Writer, Journalist

Akola Thompson – Gender Rights Activist

Sherlina Nageer – Public Health Professional & Social Justice Activist

Charlene Wilkinson – UG Lecturer – Languages

Arianne Harris – Citizen

Nichola Joy Marcus – Grassroots Advocate for Women & Children

Wintress White – Grassroots – Social & Gender Justice

Halima Khan – Grassroots – Social & Gender Justice

Vanessa Ross – Grassroots – Rights Defender

Josephine Whitehead – Lawyer

Susan Collymore – Grassroots – Rights Defender

Joel Simpson – SASOD

Alicia Roopnaraine – Public Health Psychologist

Lisa Edwards – Citizen – Researcher

Pauline Bullen – University Lecturer – Director IGS

Omattie Madray – Child Rights Activist

Janette Bulkan – Citizen

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Are you people on community drugs? The GDF KNOW who is responsible but naming names could lead to race war! More deaths! On the other hand, not naming anyone could lead to the solidarity of the people against the MauMau PNC and a huge gain for the AFC, and a united Guyana, if they disengage themselves from the APNU (PNC)! NOW!

FM
Last edited by Former Member
@Prashad posted:

Shallyv gone mad.

Gone mad? Everytime I think of that poor Henry boy trying to avoid the cutlass with his bare hands and getting his fingers mutilated, I go mad with grief and unfilled anger! He may be a N to some, but to me he was a youth derived from growing up and having his own family! Not that I dont feel for the others! So, he had previously stolen some coconuts! So fking what? Boyish adventures! When I was not even 7 years old, I lost a cousin who would go into the Buxton backdam to steal mangos. A poisoned dart was set in the ground for him and his companions, he stepped on it and that was the end of him! This was before penicillin!

FM

Guys do you think that this was some type of ritual sacrifice killing of the three boys that took place by someone living in the area. Haresh Singh died less than 100 meters from his home yet no one saw anything. The killing of the Henry boys involved alot of planning because of the amount of blood that would have been involved in the crime. I have a feeling that it was sacrifice killings for some issue such a person who has an illness or financial difficulty.

Prashad
Last edited by Prashad
@Prashad posted:

Guys do you think that this was some type of ritual sacrifice killing of the three boys that took place by someone living in the area. Haresh Singh died less than 100 meters from his home yet no one saw anything. The killing of the Henry boys involved alot of planning because of the amount of blood that would have been involved in the crime. I have a feeling that it was sacrifice killings for some issue such a person who has an illness or financial difficulty.

Yeah! Sacrificial killing for a 'a good PNC cause'! Race war! The fools didn't stop think the US would get involved because of its concern for oil, not human lives in a sh*thole country! The GDF knows backdam country! That's where they came from and disappeared to! Did the GPF search the backdam? Fking Mau Mau in Guyana!Those poor youths didn't have a fking chance! No Indo kills like that! Soldiers are trained to kill mercilessly! Fk Granger and Harmon! They are ex-GDF!

FM
@Former Member posted:

Yeah! Sacrificial killing for a 'a good PNC cause'! Race war! The fools didn't stop think the US would get involved because of its concern for oil, not human lives in a sh*thole country! The GDF knows backdam country! That's where they came from and disappeared to! Did the GPF search the backdam? Fking Mau Mau in Guyana!Those poor youths didn't have a fking chance! No Indo kills like that! Soldiers are trained to kill mercilessly! Fk Granger and Harmon! They are ex-GDF!

Interesting theory.

Mitwah

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×