Shortly after the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had issued a recommendation for the police to charge death squad suspect Axel Williams with murder, another DPP recommendation was given for a Coroner's Inquest (CI) to be held into the shooting to death of food vendor, Rodwell Ogle.
It is unclear whose signature was on the first recommendation and who tendered the second, however, the only official record at the DPP's office is for a charge of murder. This was the basis for a Stabroek News report on Monday, January 19 which said that the police had been advised to charge Williams with Ogle's murder but had not acted on it. Following the Stabroek News report claims were made in other sections of the media that a recommendation for a murder charge had not been made.
When contacted deputy DPP, Roxanne George, who is performing the functions of DPP, expressed concerns about the reports in relation to the CI recommendation. She had indicated that the records at the Chambers reflect the advice which was given on September 12, 2002 during the tenure of former DPP, Dennis Hanomansingh, that Williams be charged with murder for the August 8 shooting.
However, senior police officers were reported at a recent press conference as stating that a CI was recommended and not murder. George then requested the case file from the Brickdam Police Station, which was the station responsible for the investigation.
According to George the police file revealed that the earlier advice to charge for murder was recalled and substituted with a recommendation for an inquest to be conducted instead.
Strangely, there is no record of the second advice being recorded at the Chambers. The only record there is that a murder charge was recommended. The advice recalling the earlier one was given on the same date, according to sources.
George declined to say who recalled the earlier advice, but this newspaper understands that it would have had to be a very senior official.
It is unclear what would have prompted the change in advice. Sources say that in the case of Williams it was a seasoned legal practitioner who would have made the recommendation. It was also noted that the DPP has the power to recall the recommendation.
According to sources it is not usual for some young prosecutors to go overboard and recommend murder not taking certain aspects into consideration. This, however, would usually be altered to manslaughter and not CI. In recent times, the sources point out that only in cases of deaths where ranks from the police force were involved was a CI recommended. Williams was not a member of the force.
Legal sources have told Stabroek News that it would have been highly unusual for the advice to be altered from a murder charge to a CI especially when there was clear eyewitness testimony that Williams had shot the food vendor dead.
Stabroek News understands that a CI is only ordered when there is no clear evidence of who might have committed the act and there is evidence that the person might have met an unnatural death. In the case of Williams, several persons had seen him shoot the food vendor more than once, the last bullet causing Ogle to drop to his knees. The man was also in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital for two weeks after he was shot.
And even though a CI was ordered by the DPP, almost 16 months after, it had not been held and is now rendered moot by Williams' death. During this period, Williams is believed to have been involved in several other deaths.
Sources pointed out that following a CI if the magistrate finds that there is sufficient evidence he or she could recommend that a murder charge be instituted.
Ogle's relatives had told Stabroek News that following the shooting, which stemmed from Ogle not taking $220 from Williams for a $240 box of food, several persons who had witnessed the shooting had given statements to the police. After shooting the man three times Williams, who himself was brutally gunned down early December in Bel Air, took the police to the scene and was never apprehended for the shooting.
Ogle's relatives had told Stabroek News that after some running around they were told that the police file was lost and following this disclosure the police officers were transferred from the Brickdam station.
Meanwhile, they were forced to live in agony as they saw Williams walking around free since he at one time lived a few houses away from Ogle's relatives. The relatives had stated that after Ogle refused to take the short money from Williams he punched the vendor in his face and he returned the favour prompting Williams to run to his car and shoot the vendor three times even as he attempted to run away.
The fact that Williams was able to get a firearm licence, the decision not to charge him with murder, contacts between him and government functionaries and allegations linking him with a death squad have raised many questions about his exact role in recent killings and how he eventually met his demise.