"I saw (Linden) London emerge from the building with his hands on his head and I heard Captain (Wycliffe) Mc Allister shouting don't shoot and hold your fire! There was a hail of fire and I saw Linden London fall to the ground."

This was part of the testimony by Captain David Clarke of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) when the coroner's inquest into the deaths of London and Rhonda Forde continued yesterday.

Captain Clarke chronicled the joint services operation at the Toucan Suites Guest House, Eccles, East Bank Demerara, on February 8 and 9, 2000, which ended with the death of London on the morning of Wednesday 9th.

Recounting the details of the operation, Captain Clarke said his involvement began on February 8th at 2130 hrs (9.30 pm) when he was instructed by then Deputy Chief-of-Staff, Brigadier Michael Atherly, to be the liaison officer between the GDF and the Guyana Police Force to assist in the apprehension of Linden London.

Arriving at Eccles at 2220 hrs (10.20 pm), he was later joined by Lieutenant Shahoud and eight members of the 31 Special Forces, Captain Carmichael and eight soldiers from base camp Ayanganna and Captains Ward and Welcome who arrived with nine soldiers from the 31 Special Forces Squadron at 0046 hrs (12.46 am).

While conducting a close reconnaissance on the Toucan Suites Guest House with Captain Ward and two soldiers, he said they saw the body of a woman, approximately two feet from the fence of the guest house. On inquiring, he said, he was told by now deceased Police Superintendent Leon Fraser that `Blackie' had shot the woman and thrown her out of the building. He related that Captain Ward did not ask any questions at that point, but briefed troops and came up with a plan of action to apprehend London.

At 0230 hrs (2.30 am) the first assault on the building was launched. During an exchange of fire between the assaulting troops and London, Private Lennox Harvey was shot through his right eye resulting in a withdrawal from the building and the body of the woman was removed by the police at this point.

Following a debriefing session with Brigadier Atherly, Captain Foo and a support Company from the 1st Infantry Battalion Group arrived at 0400 hrs (4 am) along with an 82 millimeter recoilless gun which was to be used to dislodge the grill from the window that was in the line of sight of the door to the room in which London had been fortified.

The first round was fired at 0615 hrs (6.15 am), dislodging the grill and three other rounds between 0620 hrs (6.20 am) and 0645 hrs (6.45 am) resulted in the destruction of a portion of the inner wall of the building and the dislodging of the room door from its hinges.

With troops from the 31 Special Forces Squadron, a second assault was launched on the building at 0647 hrs (6.47 am), at which time the troops entered the building to apprehend London. A hail of shots forced the troops to withdraw and it was at this point, Lance Corporal Fraser was wounded in his left arm. Following his injury, the Captain related, there was dialogue between London and officers Ward, Cummings and McFarlane of the GDF and Steve Merai of the Police Force.

Noting that Captains Mc Allister and Ward subsequently had dialogue with London, he said they went into the yard of the guest house and at that point he heard Ward say to London: "I have you in my sights, I can kill you if I want."

"Moments after," he said, "I saw London emerge from the building with his hands on his head and I heard Captain Mc Allister shouting don't shoot and hold your fire!"

"What happened afterwards?" Coroner Melissa Robertson asked.

"There was a hail of fire and I saw Linden London fall to the ground."

Asked where the hail of shots came from, he said he could not account for the origin, saying that they came from different directions.

Following Captain Clarke's testimony, the inquest was adjourned by Coroner Robertson owing to a juror's medical condition. Absent from the day's proceedings was Captain Mc Allister, no longer with the army, who was summoned and attorney for the police, Vic Puran. The inquest will continue on May 8 when Captain Fitzroy Ward is to testify. (Andre Haynes)