TWO gunned down in Diego

This is 27 percent higher than the rate for the same period last year, homicide officials revealed yesterday.

The assassination of two men, Colin Cudjoe and Vaughn Rick Ali, at a house on Fuller Street, River Estate, Diego Martin early yesterday, tipped the scale to 100 homicides in 85 days.

The other victims of the weekend are Ebony Diana Henry, Marvin Samuel, Kurt Williams, Sherwin Mc Donald and Heston Joseph. Joseph was gunned down on Saturday night when he went to buy beers for a relative’s birthday party.

The rise in killings has occurred in spite of the restructuring of the Homicide Bureau, increased patrols in “hot spot” crime areas, and improvements in intelligence gathering.

The Government hired American criminologist Prof Stephen Mastrofsky to implement measures in the Police Service to combat the increasing homicide rate. Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced more than a week ago that 39 Scotland Yard detectives are to join the local force to further bolster efforts to stem crime in the country.

However, police officers concede the criminals may be winning the fight as they continue to elude detection and expertly hide their weapons. Almost all the killings to date have involved the use of illegal firearms.

Minister of National Security Martin Joseph has previously said the Government was convinced that a gun amnesty would not work.

One of those killed in yesterday’s double homicide, Cudjoe, was himself freed of a murder charge last October.

Cudjoe, 31, and Ali, 39, were tied up, gagged and shot at about 2 am. They were asleep when a group of armed men stormed the house, ordered them out of their beds, at gunpoint, tied and gagged them, investigators said.

Cudjoe was shot three times in the head and Ali once in the chest.

The killers then ran away.

Ali’s relatives hid under a bed and prayed while the men were attacked.

They only dared to move after the killers left, and found the two men slumped in a bedroom.

District Medical Officer Dr Tom Pack examined the bodies which he had removed to the Forensic Science Centre, St James.

Although she refused to be interviewed, a woman, who identified herself as Ali’s sister, pleaded for justice.

Investigators told Newsday that Ali secured bail late last year for a robbery case which is still before the courts.

Newsday learnt that Cudjoe and a relative of Ali’s were threatened on Saturday by a group of men who belong to a gang. The two were accused by the gang members of shooting at their members.

Investigators believe the killers mistook Ali for his relative. On October 12, last year, Cudjoe walked out of the Hall of Justice after the State conceded that it would not be able to prosecute him on a charge of murder.

Cudjoe, of Pelham Street, Belmont, was charged with the murder of Kelvin Sargeant, on December 24, 2002, at Patna Village, Diego Martin.

According to the evidence at the preliminary inquiry, Sargeant was at Cadiz Bar, North Post Road, Patna Village, playing a game of cards. Cudjoe was accused of entering the bar, with a white handkerchief over the lower part of his face, and shooting Sargeant twice at close range. Cudjoe was arrested on January 29, 2003.