The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy strongly condemns the unjustified shooting to death of Kelvin Fraser by a Police officer from the Wales Police Station, Guyana. The sixteen year-old student of the Patentia Secondary School committed no offence, but was wantonly pursued from his school compound and shot at point blank range in indignation by an officer acting like a Gestapo goon.
We have been in communication with several persons with knowledge of this incident. None have corroborated the Police account. CGID’s information is that on Monday, June 7, 2010 Police officers from the Wales Police Station were summoned to the Patentia Secondary School to investigate a report of purported inappropriate behavior by a group of individuals, some or all of whom were possible students.
At some point Kelvin Fraser apparently heard the commotion and proceeded from the building into the compound to inquire. He allegedly encountered a chaotic scene of officers striking at students. Some of the students were running frantically to escape the mayhem, hence he decided to run as well. Thereafter, an officer, armed with a shot gun, pursued him and opened fire; shooting him at point blank range.
Fraser fell into a muddy ditch and was removed and placed into a vehicle where he was left to bleed to death, while the officers continued to pursue other students. He obviously died at the scene but was only transported to the West Demerara Regional Hospital several hours after being shot, following the completion of the Police investigation at the school. He was pronounced dead on arrival.
An autopsy revealed that he was shot in the left chest at close range, and suffered a severed collarbone. The cause of death was shock and haemorrhage from a lacerated lung, caused by gunshot injuries. Several pellets were also recovered from his body. His mother, Sharon Fraser, has established on public record that the pellets had severely damaged his internal organs and that the trauma from the gunshot would have been unsurmountable and lethal. She, and many others, apparently have cause to believe that he was deliberately killed, and are demanding justice.
The officer who killed Kelvin Fraser is from the same division as the officers who last year doused the pelvic area of another minor, 15 year old Twyon Thomas, with a flammable substance and set his genitals afire and further tortured the teen. As a consequence, the Police Commissioner removed the divisional Commanding officer, Ms. Paulette Morrison, from the D Division; after Minister of National Security, Clement Rohee, accused her of neglecting to properly supervise subordinate ranks.
However, now that there is evidence that these scandalous and nefarious acts of criminality persists in the division, CGID will devotedly monitor the government’s response to see if the Police Commissioner would be held to account for “neglecting” to properly train, direct and monitor officers under his command and control.
The Police account of this shooting has been a tortuous exercise in obscurantism, and strains credulity. The have proffered a claim that Fraser was shot during a scuffle with a rank who was attempting to arrest him. But their story lacks credibility, as teachers, fellow students, relative and other witnesses have all described it as a deliberate lie and an attempted cover up. Eyewitnesses affirmed that Fraser ran from the officers because they were indiscriminately abusing all and sundry. They also allege that when the perpetrator caught up with him, he surrendered but was nonetheless deliberately shot in indignation. CGID seriously questions how could a child struggle with an officer, armed with a shot gun which has a long barrel, and at the same time be far enough to be hit in the chest by a bullet.
What is even more repugnant is that neither the Police Commissioner, Minister Rohee nor President Bharrat Jagdeo has pronounced on this matter or done the humane and right thing, and extend their regret at the killing of Kelvin Fraser and sincerely condolences to his grieving family on behalf of the government and nation. No, they cannot demonstrate human decency and civility to a family from Patentia, for its demographics appear to be incongruous with the government’s political niche. But must they always be guided by compounded callousness and arrogance?
Moreover, the Police Commissioner must explain why his officers armed themselves with shotguns when they were essentially dispatched to investigate school children who were allegedly behaving inappropriately or disorderly, as if there were hunting down animals. This initial swat approach portended the potential for a disproportionate use of force or abuse, and in itself precipitated the insalutary environment that produced this sloppy but deadly operation.
To make matters worst, teachers and students of the Patentia Secondary School mounted a peaceful justice protest last Thursday outside the Ministry of Home Affairs. Instead of meeting with the aggrieved to placate this situation and assure that this matter would be thoroughly investigated and that if laws or police policies were violated those responsible would be held to account, as any responsible and accountable government would, the government countenanced, if not directed the Police to block the students from protesting in front of the Ministry, and attempted to shut down the protest. They then aggravated the circumstances and further exacerbated tensions by arresting the driver of the vehicle who transported the students, as well as community activist Mark Benschop.
The killing of this child can only best be categorized as a barbaric act of murder. President Jagdeo’s silence on this matter is disgraceful. We call on Police Commissioner Henry Green and Director of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar Ali-Hack, to charge the perpetrator with murder. This would be apposite course of action in any civilized society in which the rule of law is respected and held supreme. CGID expects, and the Guyanese nation must demand, nothing less.
The Guyana Police Force is a cesspool of injustice, corruption and heinous human rights abuses. The Government of Guyana has an abysmal record of failing to prosecute and eliminate criminal conduct by Police officers. Many believe that the motivations are political. Suffice it to say that force has no integrity. No one reposes any confidence in its ability to investigate itself or enforce the law with equity, honor and professional competence. Therefore, all Guyanese must take a firm stand and ensure that the murder of Kelvin Fraser is the Waterloo of the atrocities that the Guyana Police has come to epitomize.
A clear message must be sent to rogue elements of the force who treat Guyanese citizens like animals, that we have had enough of their barbaric conduct and would mount an international effort for them to be held to account under the rule of law in Guyana as well as in accordance with international criminal law.
Consequently, we have dispatched an urgent letter to United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, calling for the Obama Administration to suspend bilateral security assistance to the Guyana Police Force. A Gestapo force should not benefit from American taxpayer dollars. The Guyana government must excise the current leadership of the force and adopt internationally acceptable reforms to transform the force into a credible, professional law enforcement entity.
We requested a series of meetings with the Obama Administration and members of the US Congress to discuss Fraser’s murder, as well as the plethora of human rights abuses by the Guyana Police Force; including extra-judicial killings and criminal associations, and will fight to ensure that Police lawlessness in Guyana are adequately investigated and criminal indictments instituted against guilty parties. Enough is enough!
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