I<$>N 1974 murder suspect Erskine Durrant (Buck) Burrows told police officers he had confessed all of his sins to God. Eighteen months later he confessed them to a Supreme Court jury during his trial for killing Governor Sir Richard Sharples, his Aide-de-Camp Captain Hugh Sayers and Police Commissioner George Duckett.In two hand-written letters addressed to Crown Counsel John Marriage, QC, Burrows took responsibility for the three killings and, in the case of the Government House murders, provided details of the crimes that only a member of the three- or four-man hit team could have known.

These were remarkable developments in an already remarkable trial — Burrows had refused legal representation and remained completely silent throughout the three-week hearing, declining to cross-examine the small army of witnesses whose sometimes damning testimony linked him to the crimes. Throughout the trial he clutched a Bible to his chest and occasionally read passages from it, answering occasional questions from Puisne Judge Dr. Earle Seaton with nods or shakes of his head.

Burrows, a petty criminal and former Prospect Police Headquarters janitor recruited as a remote-control assassin by militant members of the Black Beret Cadre and indoctrinated with their black nationalist dogma, showed little emotion throughout the trial. Occasionally, though, he did smile shyly at police officers testifying in the witness stand, officers he had befriended when he worked at Prospect.

Mr. Marriage told the court about the existence of the first letter on June 16, 1976 shortly after he had received it. He said its contents were “absolutely vital” to the Crown’s case against Buck Burrows.

“I believe that the usual practice is for prosecution to prove that the letter was written voluntarily,” said the judge. “And after that it may be given in evidence. I think we should follow that procedure.”

Mr. Marriage said he would never have attempted to have the letter from Burrows entered into evidence if there was any suggestion that its contents had been written under duress.

While not initially discussing the letter’s contents, Mr. Marriage told the judge the letter could have “far-reaching consequences as far as this trial is concerned”.

“As late as the last few days Mr. Burrows has seen fit to go a great deal further than he ever has gone before,” the prosecutor told the court. “What occurred is as follows. Last Friday afternoon, Mr. Burrows requested from prison authorities that he be given an envelope and paper. Having been given an envelope and paper he spent a portion of the weekend in his cell, of course, and at the end of that time — late on Sunday morning or perhaps early on Sunday afternoon — he indicated that he had a letter which he wished delivered. And he handed the letter to prison officers.

“The letter was addressed as follows: ‘This note is for Mr. Marriage who is Crown prosecutor in my case. Signed: Erskine Burrows.”

“That letter was taken by those prison officers and handed over in the presence of two police officers to Mr. (Alistair) Gunning (assistant prosecutor).”Mr.<$> Marriage said the letter was subsequently brought to him and had been “locked in custody” since that time. “That letter is one which, it is perfectly plain, Mr. Burrows wished to be put before you,” said Mr. Marriage. “I propose to read that letter to you because it contains some quite dramatic revelations about this case.” : The judge asked Burrows if he wished the discussion between himself and Mr. Marriage on the admissibility of the letter to take place in the presence or absence of the jury. Burrows said nothing.

Dr. Seaton dismissed the jury for the day so he could consider the Crown’s request to have Burrows’ letter entered into evidence. Ultimately, the Puisne Judge agreed the document was admissible.

Mr. Marriage read the letter to a hushed Supreme Court the following Monday, June 21.

Burrows remained impassive in the dock, smiling faintly as he looked at the floor.

“This is for Mr. Marriage who is the Crown prosecutor. Sir, I Erksine Durrant Burrows, being of sound mind and body, wish to reveal and make known the following truths.

“First of all I wish to reveal the truth that I, Erskine Durrant Burrows, was the person who shot and killed Mr. George Duckett at his home at ‘Bleak House’ on the night as stated by the prosecution. I shot him in the back.

“I am also the person who fired the other bullets through the kitchen window, one of which wounded his daughter, Marcia Duckett. I wish to state again that what I have written and revealed is all true.

“I wish to reveal also that I cut the telephone wires beforehand. I also cut the wires to Mr. Duckett’s car radio beforehand. I came on foot and left on foot. I was alone, no one else was with me.”

Burrows also claimed responsibility for what the prosecution called “the anniversary shooting”: on September 9, 1973 — a year to the day after the Commissioner was murdered — the area around the back kitchen door at “Bleak House” where Duckett was killed was peppered by five shotgun blasts.

When Burrows was arrested in October, 1973 the 12-gauge shotgun subsequently linked to that attack by ballistics and forensics evidence was fastened to his chest with a leather strap.

“I wish to reveal that I was also the person who fired the shotgun pellets at ‘Bleak House’ a year after the murder had taken place. Signed Erskine Burrows,” read the letter. “Finally, I wish to state that I have made all these revelations of my own free will. No one has forced or persuaded me into doing so. I also add my signature willingly and of my own free will. Signed: Erskine Durrant Burrows.”

Burrows, 32 years old at the time of the trial, was an orphan who had spent most of his childhood and adult life in institutions. He had undergone a jailhouse conversion to Christianity shortly after his 1973 arrest and it is believed his ongoing and unresolved grief over the murder of his Duckett — his friend, benefactor and father figure — prompted him to confess to the “Bleak House” killing near the outset of his trial.

Having briefly adopted the aliases “Cuba” and “The Cuba Kid” as a result of his crash-course introduction to radical politics by the Black Beret Cadre, once back in prison — where he had spent most of his adult life before his unlikely but genuine friendship with Mr. Duckett resulted in him working at both Police Headquarters and “Bleak House” — Burrows abandoned his revolutionary pose and immersed himself in the Bible.

During interviews conducted with him throughout 1973 and 1974 by Scotland Yard Murder Squad investigators Superintendent Bill Wright and Chief Inspector Basil Haddrell — seconded to the Bermuda Police Force to lead probes into the 1972/’73 killing spree — and Bermuda Superintendent John Joseph Sheehy, Burrows tacitly admitted involvement in the “Bleak House” and Government House assassinations as well as the Shopping Centre murders in April, 1973 when supermarket managers Victor Rego and Mark Doe were brutally slain during an armed robbery.

On December 11, 1974 Burrows told Mr. Wright: “I am at peace with my maker and he has forgiven me. It took me a long time to see the light and make my peace for all the things I have done wrong.”

Mr. Wright said: “If you want to confess to your parts in the murders, Buck I would only be too pleased to listen to you.”Burrows<$> responded: “About these murders, I have confessed to God and I have made my peace with him. He acknowledged my confession and so I don’t have to confess to my fellow man.””Have you confessed about the murders?” asked Mr. Wright. “Is that what you are saying?”“Yes,” said Burrows. “I have made my peace.”

Ten days after finally deciding to confess to his fellow man about the “Bleak House” murder, Burrows sent another letter to Mr. Marriage.

Longer and far more detailed than the first, bare-bones communication, this second five-page note described both Burrows’ role in the Government House killings and contained the only attempted justification he provided for any of the five murders.

Unlike Duckett, who had been a close personal friend, Burrows did not know Governor Sir Richard Sharples. The Governor had been a symbol of the colonial system Burrows’ Beret handlers wanted to topple rather than a living human being.

So the killer was able to depersonalise his victim in this case and attempted to rationalise the assassination using the second-hand nationalist rhetoric spoon-fed to him by the Berets — while also repeatedly invoking the Biblical commandment against murder.

Chief Officer of Casemates Prison Milton Pringle told the court that on Sunday, June 27, following a call from the prison, he had gone to Casemates.

As a result of information given to him by one of the prison officers, Mr. Pringle went to see Burrows in his cell.

“I said to Burrows: ‘I understand you have a communication or letter to be delivered to Mr. John Marriage and you require an envelope’. He said: ‘Yes, sir’.”

“I had an envelope with me at that time. I passed it to Burrows and he then addressed the envelope (as follows): ‘I address this note and statement to Mr. Marriage, who is Crown prosecutor in my case. Signed Erskine Burrows’. He then placed in the envelope the note he had written.”

Mr. Pringle said he then took Burrows to another room where the prisoner placed sealing wax across the back flap of the envelope in his presence.

The Chief Prison Officer said he then drove to Prospect Police Headquarters and delivered the note to Bill Wright and John Joseph Sheehy. The envelope, he said, reached Mr. Wright completely intact — in the same condition it had been in when Burrows gave it to him.

Mr. Wright attempted to contact Mr. Marriage immediately but could not locate him. Early the following morning the unopened envelope was delivered to the prosecutor in his room at the Princess Hotel by two police officers.Puisne Judge Dr. Seaton took just 15 minutes to determine the second letter could be entered into evidence and Mr. Marriage read its dramatic contents to the Supreme Court on June 29.Before he had finished one female juror had screamed and burst into loud sobbing.

“Sir, I Erskine Durrant Burrows, as former Commander in Chief of all anti-colonialist forces in the island of Bermuda, wish to willingly reveal the part I played in the assassination and murder of the former Governor of Bermuda Mr. (sic) Richard Sharples and his ADC Captain Hugh Sayers.

“I wish to state, not forgetting that killing is wrong and sinful, that it was upon my direct orders and inspired efforts and determination that what was done was done, performed with a Magnum .357 six-shot handgun.

“I was not alone when I went up to Government House to kill the Governor but I shall never reveal who or how many others were with me.

“Now, one week before the Governor and his ADC were killed, I went up to Government House and as I hid in the bushes which were to the right of the front doorway facing north, I saw the Governor and his ADC and his dog Horsa come out of Government House, walk across the terrace and go down the steps. I was glad to see this because it revealed that the enemy was to be delivered right into my hands.

“The following week I again went to Government House, with my chief goal and motive being to kill the Governor, not forgetting the truth that it is wrong and sinful to kill anyone.

“Again I reveal that I was not alone. I was dressed in dark clothes. I had two guns on me myself. One was to shoot at the Governor with and the other one was to be used on anyone who might have tried to stop me from getting away.

“We arrived up at Government House at about 10.15 at night and waited just to the right of the steps leading leading down into the grounds of Government House.

“After we had been waiting for some time we saw people come out of Government House and begin to leave in cars that were parked outside. After they had gone it was suggested to me that maybe the Governor wasn’t going to come out and that we should leave. But I insisted that we continue to wait a bit longer.

“Now, soon after this short conversation, we heard some noise coming from the front of the house. I looked through the opening in the balcony and saw someone walking towards the steps in our direction. Before he reached the steps someone else came out of Government House and hurried to catch up with the first person.

“When they both reached the top of the steps they stopped and I heard them quietly conversing together.

“Now, right about this time the dog came down the steps and came right around to where we were. I was minded to shoot him then although I am not the one who eventually killed the dog. For I realised that to have done so then would have given undue warning to our victims.

“So I ignored the dog, cocked the gun I had in my right hand, aimed and began to fire at the two persons who were standing at the top of the steps.

“They both fell to the ground right away. One of them didn’t make any sound at all but I heard a groaning sound coming from the other person. I commenced shooting at them from between the openings that were in the wall that was on the right-hand side of the steps facing north.

“The dog was shot immediately after this as it was blocking our path of escape.

“It is sufficient for me to say we came on foot and left on foot.

“. . . The falling thunder brought great fear and tears to the eyes of many of the people. Thus shall it forever be for all those who do not heed the warning.

“The motive for killing the Governor (his ADC was not our objective, he was shot only because he happened to be with the Governor at the time) was to seek to make the people, black people in particular, become aware of the evilness and wickedness of the colonialist system in the island of Bermuda.

“One of their major evil strategies being to seek and to encourage black people to hate and fight each other, while those who are putting this evil strategy into effect laugh and pat themselves on their backs saying, yeah, look, we have got them, we have got them conquered.

“This ought not to be but it can clearly be seen there is no strong backbone in the people so that they may stand strong and united against this evil way.

“Secondly, the motive was to show that these colonialists were just ordinary people like ourselves who eat, sleep and die just like anybody else and that we need not stand in fear or awe of them.

“Finally, the motive was to reveal to black people unto themselves. This refers to the revealed reactions of many black people during the Governor’s funeral, when black people were seen to be standing with tears in their eyes, crying for a man who when he was alive didn’t care if they lived or died and here they were crying for a white Governor and yet when many of their own people pass away there is sometimes hardly a tear shed for them.

“This shows clearly the evil effects that the colonialist propaganda has had over the long years they have ruled over this little island. And, my beloved brothers and sisters, this ought not to be because there is a supreme authority we can all appeal to and pray to free us from suppression, sin and any evil domination we might be under.

“I give thanks that I have been given eternal freedom from sin and death through the love and mercy and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Master and Saviour forever. I can even proclaim with humbleness and sincereness and in truth that what Jesus Christ has done for me he stands ready and anxious to do for you.

“Jesus Christ stands prepared to forgive any of you of all your sins if you would only repent to him of all your sins and believe in him as your own personal saviour. Amen.”

“I wish to say again that to kill anyone is wrong and sinful, for to do so is to violate one of the Holy Commandments of the Most High God who created Heaven, Earth and all that is in them.”

Continued next week

‘The falling thunder brought great fear . . .’