…says nation still scarred from extrajudicial killings in early 2000s under PPP
The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) joined calls on Wednesday for a thorough investigation to be launched into the death of 29-year-old Orin Boston, a Dartmouth, Essequibo businessman who was killed at the hands of a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Unit of the Guyana Police Force.
Boston, a father of two, died Wednesday morning moments after he was shot at his Dartmouth residence. He was in bed with his wife at the time of the shooting.
While expressing concern with the manner in which the early morning operation was conducted by the (SWAT) Unit, PNCR, in a statement, called for a thorough investigation to be launched.
“The PNCR calls on the Guyana Police Force and Government of Guyana to employ all necessary resources to ensure that this matter is treated with expedience and professionalism. A thorough investigation into the circumstances which led to Mr. Boston’s demise must be done and wherever there were breaches in the standard operational procedures of the Force, those responsible must face the law and the consequences,” the political party urged.
It said while an official release from the Guyana Police Force suggested that Boston’s demise came as a result of a confrontation between himself and a rank of the SWAT unit, reports emanating from the ground serve to contradict the direct account given by the police.
“While we await the outcome of the investigation into Mr. Boston’s demise, as a nation we must not be quick to make assumptions nor cast judgement. However, experience has reminded us of the many sons who were forcibly taken from the hands of their mothers, fathers from their children, husbands abducted from their beds as they slept, families ripped apart and communities sent into mourning, by the actions of the Guyana Police Force under the last PPP’s administration. Our nation is still scarred from the actions of the Target Special Squad who gunned down, on April 6, 2002, Shaka Blair, a 32-year-old East Coast Demerara businessman,” the PNCR said.
The party expressed hope that this killing does not languish in similar manner as the murder of the ‘Henry’ boys. It therefore urged the Government to discharge its duties to the people of Guyana by having both matters expeditiously and professionally completed.
The Office of the Leader of the Opposition, in a separate statement, also lobbied for a thorough and independent investigation to be launched into Boston’s death.
