George Bacchus’ sister, Elaine BacchusWilliams says the Guyana Government and the police must accept responsibility for her brother’s killing.
In a telephone interview from the United States yesterday, BacchusWilliams told Stabroek News that the government and the police had failed to protect her brother after he had come forward with incriminating information in relation to the activities of the death squad.
The sister said that her family had no intentions of returning to Guyana to bury Bacchus as they had gone through hell this year and had had no protection from the authorities.
Bacchus’ murder on Thursday meant that two of the brothers of the family had been killed in around six months. Shafeek Bacchus’ slaying in January triggered the allegations by George Bacchus about the existence of a death squad.
“My idea of a funeral for George would be to take his body and leave it in front of the (President’s) home and Home Affairs Minister (Ronald) Gajraj’s home”, as they failed to protect him, Bacchus-Williams said.
She said Bacchus had only recently become a father and leaves a monthsold baby to mourn. In addition to the baby’s mother, he leaves to mourn several sisters and his mother.
She added that her family abroad was ending its links with Guyana because of the tragedies that had befallen them.
BacchusWilliams was also critical of the local US Embassy, which she said gave her brother false hopes that it would help to get him safe passage out of the country.
Bacchus had initially gone to the embassy in the company of a lawyer to tell officials there about the activities of a death squad. The sister said that Bacchus had told her that initially the US embassy led him to believe that they would assist him with safe passage out of the country since he had a valid US visa at the time.
She said after other visits, Bacchus was told that there was nothing the US Embassy could do and a Federal Bureau of Investigations official kept pressing for more information from him.
BacchusWilliams said that the US Embassy seemed keen on extracting more information from Bacchus on the activities of drug lords here but her brother had no such information.
The US embassy has refused to speak about its dealings with Bacchus. The sister said she felt let down by the embassy and the US government and is in the process of putting together a wrongful death lawsuit against the US government.