GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC):

Police on Wednesday charged a man with two counts of harbouring Guyana's most wanted fugitive, Rondell 'Fineman' Rawlins, and members of his gang.

The man was also charged with one count of engaging with the criminals after they had killed 12 persons in the Bartica township in February this year.

Sherman Lyght, 34, of Linden, did not plead to the indictable charges when the matter was called before Magistrate Priya Beharry.

Maintained and assisted

Police allege that between February 18 and April 22, Lyght received, maintained and assisted Rawlins, Celbert Reece, Cecil Simeon Ramcharran, Otis Fifee, Julius Chung and Mark Royden Williams, knowing that they murdered 12 persons on February 17.

Gang members, Ramcharran, Chung and Fifee, were killed during a confrontation with the security forces in Lindo Creek, in the upper Berbice River area in June. Reece and Williams were charged earlier this year with the Bartica murders.

Bartica massacre

Police arrested Lyght late last week in the interior and recovered two metal vaults and a briefcase containing documents which have been identified as belonging to the CBR Mining Company that was robbed during the Bartica massacre.

Lawmen also alleged that between February 18 and April 21, Lyght harboured Rawlings and his gang, whose names and photographs had been published by the police for the capital offence of murder. It is also alleged that between April 27 and June 16, at Christmas Falls, Lyght again harboured the wanted men.