Operation “Blade Runner” looks for witnesses to murder

Exactly a week after the fatal stabbing of 27-year old Recordo Lionel Pars, the police went back to the scene of the crime at the Strand to see if anyone could tell them anything. The stabbing too place at 3.30 A.M. on Saturday 29 August, and so half-a-dozen police officers, in one large van and some police cars visited the Strand at 2.0 A.M to talk to people at any of the nightclubs, restaurants and bars near to where it happened. A 27-year-old man of George Town was arrested in relation to the murder and remains in police custody, but the police need witnesses in relation to the incident, which involved several people.

The purpose of the police visit was also part of a new, regular late-night and early morning police presence around nightclubs and known trouble-spots called ‘Operation Blade Runner,’ which aimed at deterring the recent spate of knife-related crime. In recent weeks, since the end of the Covid 19 lockdown, and the ban on bars ended, stabbings have taken place at a rate of nearly one a week, and the police are determined to stamp it out before more lives and families are ruined.

Standing at the foot of the outside staircase where the altercation leading to the stabbing began, Detective Superintendent Peter Lansdown of the Criminal Investigation Department said, “There was a fight on the stairs here. One man’s been charged with wounding, hitting him with a bottle, other people got involved, and that spilled out into the carpark here and one man has been charged with murder, stabbing an individual.”

Explaining the police presence, he said, “This is an anniversary appeal one week after the tragic murder here. Its purpose is to offer a high visibility of police presence to deter knife crime, but mainly my detectives are here to find witnesses who were here last week. Our assumption is that the same crowd will come back to the venue a week after it happened. What we are looking for in particular are the people who posted the social media, who videoed this incident, and have remained anonymous, posting it on social media.” It is very important that those people come forward, he explained, because otherwise, it is difficult to use the videos as evidence in court.

“Knife crime is our problem at the moment, we’ve had numerous incidents of knife crime since the COVID restrictions have been lifted. I think people are taking advantage of the restrictions being lifted and they are coming out and abusing alcohol and their freedom again, and they are just going too far. These types of incidents ruin two families – those of the deceased, and then the accused, who may end up spending the rest of his life in prison. It ruins lots of peoples lives and we don’t want it to continue,” Superintendent Lansdown said.

The police walked all around the area, talking to the nightclub-goers giving out leaflets with the victim’s photograph and details. But despite talking to many people, there were no new witnesses, although some of the bar staff thought they might have seen what happened. Ian Levine, Inspector with the Operational Support Unit “Actually all the persons we spoke to tonight said they didn’t see anything.”

Persons who can help the police are being encouraged to phone detectives at 649-2930, and there is also a confidential tips line at 949-7777.