New evidence…

By Lakhram Bhagirat

The ammunition recovered from the July 18 shooting at Linden is different from the regular ones are police issued, English ballistics expert, Dr Mark Nicholas Robinson Wednesday told the commission of inquiry probing the shooting incident.
This revelation has led many to believe that the shots which killed the three people during the protests in Linden were fired by someone else, thereby vindicating the police from any wrongdoing as far as the deaths are concerned. This new explosive evidence would be a slap in the face of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC) which presumed that the police fired the fatal shots on the day in question.
“I was provided with a total of three rounds of ammunition, which I was told that two were used and the third has been used since 2005. One was Challenger Number 6; second, a Number 4 – those were small pellets; and the third cartridge contained 00 buck pellets, but those were different than those in question,” he said.

English ballistics expert, Dr Mark Nicholas Robinson

“… ones recovered were pellets that were coated with a light coating of copper whereas the police ammunition were just lead and I was informed that 00 pellets were never used since 2005,” Dr Robinson added. He said he visited the scene on Saturday last and spoke to witnesses and returned to Police Headquarters, Eve Leary where he conducted tests on the pellets recovered from the remains of the dead and the injured at the Police Ballistics Laboratory.
He noted that during the compilation of his reports he used information contained in the post-mortem reports by Trinidad’s pathologist Professor Hubert Daisley and government’s pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh.
In his report, Dr Robinson stated that the locations of the victims are consistent with shots having been fired along the road towards the Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge and from the road towards the Linmine Secretariat Building. He said that at the Police Headquarters he met with Sergeant Jackson who handed over the recovered pellets. “Each of the items I examined proved to be lead buckshot pellets. These are pellets which would be contained within a shotgun cartridge,” he said.
“…it’s not possible to give a calibre just from the examination of pellets, but I found the most common calibre is 12-gauge, and I’m certainly aware that a number of manufacturers make buckshot cartridges in 12-gauge and I have no reason to suspect that the calibre of gun used could be anything but 12-gauge,” he opined.
He explained that pellets can be measured by their size and weight. He was also shown a photograph of the police holding a gun and was asked to determine the calibre of the weapon.
“You can’t tell the gauge just by looking at the shotgun, but nothing suggests anything but 12-gauge, they are pump-action shotguns, so I have no reason to suspect that they are anything but capable of discharging 12-gauge cartridges,” he responded.

No evidence of ricochet effect
Commander of the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) ranks who were deployed to Linden on July 18, Assistant Superintendent Patrick Todd had testified that he utilised the shotguns to fire into the ground to produce a ricochet effect to scare the protesters.
However, Dr Robinson’s report stated that the pellets recovered from the bodies bore no evidence of having “ricocheted from a road surface”.
“The pellets recovered bore no evidence of being ricocheted from a road surface, because lead shotgun pellets are very soft and if it was to strike a road surface, it would be badly deformed and there would be traces of debris on. I looked for evidence of debris and evidence of it being deformed but I found no such evidence,” he said as he sought to explain.
“Each victim was hit by one, two, or three pellets, now distance determination with shotguns depends on the shot pattern produced. When all the pellets hit the target and the pellets spread out, the farther they are away from the muzzle and if fired into a wall, it would produce a circular pattern,” he said when asked about the pattern and the possibility of someone just being hit by one pellet.

No rifle in crowd
He explained that buckshot cartridges have nine pellets and trying to read the pattern of shots from just one or two pellets would not create an accurate measurement of the exact location of the police when they allegedly fired at the protesters.
He said in the case of Allan Lewis, the reason the entry point of the pellet was lower than the exit is because of the possibility that he was leaning forward or running when he was fired at.
“Buckshot pellets can be a little untidy, meaning that they do not form a perfect circle pattern or within a pattern, they are not perfectly equidistant from each other; so it’s always possible that one of the pellets from the nine may always misplaced and then you might fire a second shot and all of the pellets may be grouped together,” he said.
When asked about the possibility of someone shooting from the river, the expert said that there would have been pellets indented on the bridge and persons would be shot in the limbs. However, upon his investigation, no such indentations were discovered.
He also said that it would be virtually impossible for someone from within the crowd to conceal the weapon and discharge at the protesters because of the size of the gun, which ranges from 18 inches to an approximate 3.5 feet and it also cannot be silenced.
The police are accused of shooting to death three persons on July 18 at the Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge, Linden. Ron Somerset, Allan Lewis and Shemroy Bouyea were shot dead while protesting the hike in electricity tariffs in the mining town. The incident triggered a more-than-month-long protest and the burning of several public buildings, including the One Mile Primary School. As a result, it was agreed by government and the opposition parties, AFC and APNU that a commission of inquiry be established to investigate the incident.
The two parties have been campaigning vigorously for the removal of Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, claiming that he was giving instructions to the police at Linden, instead of waiting on findings of the inquiry.
Earlier this week, both parties supported two days of terror under the guise of protest action in Agricola, Greater Georgetown, during which thousands of innocent citizens, including schoolchildren were stranded and some beaten and robbed, while the police attacked despite showing considerable restraint.
The commissioners are former Jamaican Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe, Jamaican Senior Counsel Keith D Knight, retired Guyana Appeal Court Justice Claudette Singh, Trinidad Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal, and former Chancellor of the Judiciary, Cecil Kennard. The commission is chaired by Wolfe.