Gajraj and senior police officer in row over Rosignol family shooting
Officer refused order to return gun
Stabroek News
April 25, 2003
The Ministry of Home Affairs is denying any improper interference by Minister Ronald Gajraj into the investigations into the shooting of a 24-year old man at his father's residence at Rosignol, West Coast Berbice.
The PNCR aired the allegations some weeks ago at one of its weekly press conferences.
According to sources in New Amsterdam, Home Affairs Minister, Gajraj intervened in the investigations, seeking the return of one of the firearms, which belongs to the father of the man who was accidentally shot according to his family.
An official at the Ministry of Home Affairs, conversant with the details of the sequence of the interactions between the Minister and the Commander of the Police "B" Division, Assistant Commissioner Paul Slowe, told Stabroek News that the Minister sought to have the gun returned after ballistics tests had indicated that the gun owned by the father was not the one involved in the shooting.
The official also said the absence of any record of the licence for the gun from the division is not uncommon as it could be due to the fact that the information had not yet reached there from the head office.
The official pointed out that such an occurrence was not unusual.
The official did not comment on the reports of President Bharrat Jagdeo's involvement but Stabroek News has confirmed that Slowe had spoken with President Jagdeo on the issue. Slowe has declined to speak on the issue.
The incident that sparked the dispute is related to a report received by the police that the 24-year-old son of a prominent Rosignol businessman shot himself on March 30 at his father's home following a reported domestic squabble and not as a result of his accidental discharge of his weapon which he was cleaning at the time.
According to a police source an investigation was immediately launched into the shooting because of the anomaly in the reports of the circumstances surrounding the incident.
However the investigating ranks encountered difficulties in accessing the home where the incident reportedly occurred and were unable to take possession of the gun used in the shooting. The official said that when the Police called at the home no one was there as the family had accompanied the victim to the hospital for treatment. The gun, the official said, was turned over to the police the following day. This statement is at variance with the report from other Stabroek News sources, which said that the gun was turned over on Tuesday.
On Monday an unidentified official from the Ministry of Home Affairs called the police in New Amsterdam enquiring about the status of the investigation and suggesting that the shooting was an accident. But the official was told that the investigation had to be conducted and the gun used in the shooting handed over to the investigators for ballistics tests.
On Tuesday, April l, the gun reportedly used in the shooting was handed over but investigators also discovered that both the son involved in the shooting and his father were holders of firearm licences which necessitated testing of the gun handed over by the family.
According to the source there was an unusual development when Commissioner of Police(ag) Floyd Mc Donald intervened in the investigations and suggested that the gun should be returned to the father of the 24-year old. "The Commissioner was advised that the gun was undergoing tests and could not be returned until the investigations were completed," the source told Stabroek News.
The official said that ballistics tests cleared the father's gun on Thursday and he was advised to collect it from the Blairmont Police Station to which McDonald had ordered that it should be returned.
The official said that the businessman was unable to collect the firearm after being advised by the Commissioner that he would have been able to do.
In the wake of the Commissioner's call came a call from Minister Gajraj on Friday, April 4, enquiring about the status of the investigations.
According to the source, "the Minister then asked what time could he send to collect the gun". This newspaper understands that the senior officer advised the Minister that the investigations were still ongoing and therefore the gun could not be handed over to anyone even though the ballistics test had concluded that it was not the gun that had been fired.
"The Minister then ordered the senior officer to return the gun to the man's father," the source recalled. "However the senior officer refused and told the Minister that he could not order him, pointing out that the order was not lawful." This newspaper understands that the senior officer and the Minister had a similar argument in 2001.
On Saturday, April 5, the Commissioner again sought to convince the senior officer that the gun should be returned to the man's father and suggested that he apologise to Gajraj for allegedly refusing an order. But the senior officer reminded the Commissioner that the investigations were still ongoing and he refused to apologise for something he was not guilty of. By this time the Commissioner had dispatched a letter to Slowe instructing that the gun should be returned to the man's father.
This newspaper understands that the officer eventually complied with the written request and handed over the gun while pointing out that as a result the investigation had been compromised and had been aborted. Yet the Commissioner persisted with his request for an apology and on Monday, April 7, he saw the senior officer at Police Headquarters and again suggested that he apologise to the Minister.
On Wednesday, April 9, the senior officer was summoned to the Office of the President where he met with President Jagdeo. Stabroek News understands that the senior officer was told about the allegation that he had refused to apologise to the Minister for refusing to carry out an order.
According to a source, the senior officer was asked by the President to apologise to the Minister. However, this newspaper understands that the senior officer has requested that the allegation being made against him should be put in writing before he considers an apology.
