Office of Professional Responsibility takes over investigation

… Hampshire robbery

As relatives of 18 year-old Hemchand Gopaul continue to call for justice the Office of Professional Responsibility has promised a thorough investigation.
According to attorney-at-law, Khemraj Ramjattan, the lawyer who is watching the interest the two men who were detained and subsequently released from police custody, said that the OPR office has promised a thorough investigation.
He said that already works to this effect have begun. Statements have been sought from the ranks involved in the shooting, and from eyewitnesses as well as the two survivors.
In addition, this newspaper has been told that the ranks who were involved in the incident are still on active duty, despite all the emerging evidence so far shows that an innocent man was killed.
This newspaper has also been informed that the robbery victims have all refused to take part in any identification parade. However efforts will be made to have the ID parade at a later date.
Meanwhile, a post mortem examination preformed on the remains of Hemchand Gopaul revealed that he died as a result of shock and hemorrhage due to a gunshot wound. The post mortem examination was done yesterday and the remains were handed over to relatives for burial.
Gopaul, of Rose Hall, Corentyne, was shot dead shortly after three masked men with cutlasses and a handgun carted off some $85,000 and an estimated 60 pennyweights in jewellery after smashing their way into a house at Hampshire, Corentyne.
Police had subsequently stated in a release that Gopaul was positively identified as one of the gunmen who had invaded the house, which was occupied by Latchmini Narinesammy, 68, Maria Mootoo, 45, her sister Savitri Mootoo, 41 years; and their brother, Vernon Mootoo, and Narinesammy’s nine-year-old grandson.
According to the release, Gopaul was killed during a shootout with the police ranks. It also alleged that the police had recovered eight 9mm rounds from the slain man’s pockets.
But relatives, who staged a protest on Saturday, have insisted that the teen and his friends were digging for “scrap metal” from an old factory at Port Mourant when police confronted them.
And contrary to the police statement, two of the robbery victims who spoke to Kaieteur News denied that they had identified Gopaul as one of the bandits.