Woman appears in court over missing person enquiry

(CNS): Twenty-year-old Karli Rankin appeared before Magistrate Kirsty Gunn Monday after being charged with offenses in connection to the disappearance of a 31-year-old man who went missing last December. The young woman’s case is expected to be committed up to the Grand Court as a co-defendant with a man by the name of Canute Nairne, who is charged in connection with the same missing person enquiry. Hemerson Gonzalez, a Guyanese national who is still missing, is reported to have been staying at Rankin's residence in the Savannah area with her and her boyfriend before he mysteriously disappeared while visiting the island.

Rankin is represented by local attorney Clyde Allan and will return toSummary Court next week for further discussions on the matter but it is expected that the she will be joined onto the same indictment as Nairne. He was arrested upon his return to the island at the Owen Roberts International Airport in January and has already been committed into the higher court. The prosecution claims that that there are inconsistencies in the police witness statements given at the time of Gonzalez' disappearance by Rankin and Nairne, who both face charges of doing an act to pervert or defeat the act of justice and misleading the police.

Gonzalez was last seen at around 5:30pm on 11 December of last year and is known to be a frequent visitor to the island. Police said that he was feeling ill at the time of his disappearance and had been suffering from severe vomiting. After checks with local hospitals, it was confirmed that he had sought treatment for his sickness.

A search was carried out by the RCIPS, including the Air Operation Unit, and a public awareness campaign was launched with media coverage and the distribution of flyers but Gonzalez has been missing for over nine months. There have been no sightings of him nor has a body ever been recovered but there is no record of Gonzalez leaving the island or returning to Guyana since his disappearance.

He was last seen wearing brown jeans shorts, a t-shirt and low cut cloth shoes. He weighs about 180lbs and stands at 5'8" tall, with a compass tattoo on his left forearm and a writing tattoo on the inside of his left wrist. Gonzalez is of dark brown complexion with curly black hair.