May 28, 2009
RK female guard killed at Uncle Eddie’s Home
TV, microwave, fridge stolen
Simone Coleridge
A 43-year-old female security guard attached to RK Security Service was tied, gagged, beaten and then strangled while on duty at Uncle Eddie’s Home early yesterday morning.
Dead is Simone Coleridge of Tiger Bay who had been assigned to the senior citizens’ home by her company less than a year ago. The woman reported for duty at the Tucville, Georgetown location on Tuesday night.
Perhaps Coleridge discovered the robbers, who murdered her, as she was patrolling the compound or she might have been alerted to the intrusion by a noise. She was found with her arms tied behind her back, her feet tightly strapped together, and her mouth stuffed with newspaper and bound.
Police in a press statement yesterday said they are investigating “the suspected murder” of Coleridge which occurred at approximately 2 am yesterday at Uncle Eddie’s Home, Tucville, Georgetown.
Investigations, police said, have revealed that “an aide on duty at the institution heard a noise in the building and upon checking found the body of Simone Coleridge lying on the floor in the waiting area of the building. Her hands and feet were bound and her mouth gagged with a piece of cloth.”
Labourers finishing up their task of clearing the backyard of Uncle Eddie’s Home which was up to early yesterday morning covered in vegetation more than one foot in height.
A subsequent check, according to police, revealed that a television set, a portable fridge and a microwave had been stolen.
Police have since recovered the stolen articles in an abandoned house in the Tucville area. A post-mortem examination will be conducted shortly. No one had been arrested up to last evening.
A senior member of staff at Uncle Eddie’s Home, a private institution for senior citizens kept alive by a management committee, explained that the robbers broke and entered the main building from the back door located on the ground floor. The robbery, the staff member opined, was premeditated since the building’s phone lines were “cut”.
A front view of the main building of Uncle Eddie’s Home, Tucville.
A mini-refrigerator and microwave oven are among the items stolen, the employee said. Minimum damage was done to the building’s interior and many of its residents slept unaware that their place of dwelling was under attack.
Yesterday labourers were clearing away weeds, which had grown more than one foot in height, from the home’s backyard when this newspaper visited shortly before 11am. The bushes covered the area in front of the breached back door, which showed signs of age, and extended to the rear fence. The compound’s front fence is equipped with two rows of barbed wire but its back fence has none.
“We are still traumatized,” the employee said. “Last night Ms. Coleridge and the nurse aide were on duty…Ms. Coleridge is the only security guard we had here.”
The broken back door of Uncle Eddie’s Home through which the robbers gained entry to the building.
Yesterday’s attack, according to the employee is the “third or fourth time” that robbers have targeted Uncle Eddie’s Home.
“We have been targeted before and the matters were reported to the police,” the senior staff member said. “They never bothered with it though. I suppose now that a woman has died because of the robbery they will pay attention to us….”
Contacted about this yesterday, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud was unable to comment. He said he would need to check to ascertain whether reports of previous incidents were made by Uncle Eddie’s Home.
‘A lone, unarmed, female guard’
Shortly after 5 am yesterday Carlotta D’ Oliveira, awakened and answered her phone only to be informed of her sister’s death. Word of Coleridge’s death spread quickly among relatives leaving grief in its wake. D’ Oliveira, an aunt and cousin made their way to the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour to identify the deceased.
“My cousin went in…I couldn’t go,” D’ Oliveira said. “She rushed out crying after she saw Simone. She [the cousin] said she couldn’t bear to look at her face because it was battered and her arms were tied behind her back and her mouth was still stuffed with newspaper and gagged…it was horrible.”
D’ Oliveira believes that her sister may have recognized her attackers. She recalled that earlier this year, Coleridge had related an incident to her. Her sister, D’ Oliveira said, had a confrontation with a man in the compound of Uncle Eddie’s Home.
“She told me that the man was in the compound that night armed with a pitch fork… they had a little pushing but she was the type of person who would avoid a fight,” D’ Oliveira related. Coleridge could identify the man, her sister said. The woman had also had a similar encounter at the end of last year. Both incidents, according to D’ Oliveira, were reported to RK Security but no action was ever taken by the company.
“How can you leave a lone, unarmed, female guard assigned to such a dangerous location?” D’ Oliveira questioned. “I believe that RK should have assigned an armed guard to assist her or they should have transferred her to another location altogether.”
D’ Oliveira said she visited the security service hoping to speak to owner Roshan Khan about the incident. He was unavailable at the time but D’ Oliveira said Khan had since indicated that he wants to speak to her about the matter.
The distressed woman said that Coleridge often complained about conditions at her worksite. Coleridge had once told her sister that her chair at Uncle Eddie’s was “infested with bugs” and she would often joke about the matter. D’ Oliveira stressed that working conditions and safety provisions for security guards need to be improved.
“I hope that my sister’s death will cause change for other women guards at RK,” D’ Oliveira stressed. “My sister wanted to work. She chose to work and refused to leave the job because she knew employment was hard to come by… RK will have to answer my questions and I am praying justice will be served for my sister.”
Coleridge was the youngest of her sisters, D’ Oliveira said, and the second sibling to die under such tragic circumstances. An older brother, Keith Coleridge, was shot to death on Wellington Street just over a decade ago.
Meanwhile, efforts made to contact Khan or RK Security officials for a comment were futile. Coleridge is the second RK guard to die while on duty this year. Julian Edmond Embrack, a Visiting Inspector, was discovered with a gunshot wound to his head on a road in the Diamond New Housing Scheme on April 24. (Sara Bharrat/Stabroek News/Photo by Orlando Charles)
May 26, 2009
‘MEN’ joins fight against domestic violence
Priya Manickchand
Calling on men to stand up in opposition against all forms of violence, especially the rampant plague of violence against women, the Men Empowering Network (MEN) yesterday launched an ambitious agenda to tackle the problem through direct engagements across the country.
On the platform of “a different approach,” MEN has proposed to uproot the scourge of the problem by insisting that domestic violence never be treated in isolation as simply a woman’s issue, but rather a threat to the civil liberties of the entire populace.
By addressing what it says is a culture of abuse in the country and focusing on how young men are socialized in the society, MEN proposes a strategy of examining the causative and contributive factors to the problem.
The issues of power and control and how they translate in the man/woman relationship were prominent in the discussions at the International Convention Centre yesterday, where MEN outlined what it intends to do within the next few months under the theme, ‘Confronting Domestic Violence’.
It is working in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security. MEN’s Chairman Reverend Kwame Gilbert explained that there is a crucial need to arrest and change the culture of abuse and not simply to stop the violence that is, “sometimes overlooked as a private matter between a man and his woman.”
He spoke of the difficulties in relationships, saying that violence is often minimized and justified because there is no clear definition of what constitutes abuse and the difference between what is harmful and harmless. In the context of such a relationship, he said, violence is also reframed to protect the positive aspects of the union.
But he stressed that there can be no compromise. “I wish to insist that the compromise of one’s safety and dignity for the security and/or pleasure of a body in bed is a foolish and dangerous trade-off,” Gilbert declared.
He underscored the issue of domestic violence being tied to the general nature of how people interact with each other in the society, noting that people have lost the ability to resolve their differences in a non-violent, humane and civilized manner and that acrimony and contention seem to be the first response to almost every issue.
MEN intends to offer alternative forms of conflict resolution and promote a culture of non-violence as it engages young boys and men at the community level and within faith-based organisations.
Minister Priya Manickchand endorsed the comments made by Gilbert, pointing to crucial need for an organization like MEN. She noted that prior to the launch of the group there had been no major and sustained movement by men to tackle the issue.
She lamented the recent murders of women in the country and the increased reports of abuse being perpetrated against women and children, noting that legislation would be introduced shortly to support existing initiatives.
Manickchand made the link between men’s involvement and the success of programmes implemented to address the issue of domestic violence saying that she had hoped for an earlier intervention.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sam hinds reiterated what Manickchand said on the issue of men getting involved. He also called for a compassionate approach by men in an effort to change attitudes in the society.
British High Commissioner to Guyana Fraser Wheeler also commented to the media after the session that domestic violence is “a real constraint” on the development of the country, but noted that the administration has been making commendable strides, with Manickchand at the helm.
He said too that the partnership between men and government is important while noting that it is also very important that the new legislation is implemented fully. (Stabroek News)
May 19, 2009
BANDIT SHOT DEAD
Said to be a member of a two-man gang .....
suspected of terrorising East Coast Demerara villages
One of the two bandits who have been terrorising residents of a number of East Coast Demerara villages was yesterday morning gunned down in an exchange of fire with police.
Twenty-four-year-old Courtney James, for whom the police had issued a wanted bulletin last month, and who was wanted in connection with a series of armed robberies and rapes in a number of East Coast Villages, as well as last month’s attack on Magistrate Nigel Hawke and his wife Donnelle, was shot and killed early yesterday morning.
Reports reaching this newspaper say that the man was spotted jumping over the fence of a yard on Mandela Avenue, Alexander Village, Greater Georgetown, by police on a mobile patrol. The fugitive was challenged by police, but opened fire at them.
James was shot in the exchange of gunfire that ensued and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital. Reports said a .32 revolver with live rounds and two spent shells were recovered at the scene. James is alleged to have perpetrated a series of rapes and robberies on the East Coast Demerara between November 26 and May 14 last.
Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, Senior Superintendent Louis Crawford, performing the duties of Crime Chief in the absence of Assistant Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud, said that with the killing of James, it is expected that the spate of robberies on the East Coast villages will decrease, as James, along with his accomplice, was the prime suspect in these criminal acts.
Crawford stated that the police will continue to hunt the other man and will not let up until he is captured, although his identity is not yet known.
Earlier this month, following a call by the Guyana Police Force for James to give himself up, ‘C’ Division (East Coast Demerara) Commander Balram Persaud had also called on residents of the lower ECD villages to assist police in capturing the criminal and his accomplice who had been stalking several areas.
The Commander had appealed to the public for help in capturing James, though the Force had set up a special unit consisting of ranks from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to capture the AK-47 bandit and his accomplice. Persaud had appealed that public knowledge of the whereabouts of the bandits needed to be provided to the police.
The Commander had also lamented the rising incidents of robbery attacks the duo was perpetuating with relative ease in several villages, as well as the brutality the men meted out to their victims. Some of the villages targeted were Non Pariel, Enterprise, and Enterprise Gardens. Residents in some of these areas had previously expressed their fear of the AK-47 bandit and his accomplice to the Guyana Chronicle.
Knowing of the two criminals’ propensity for raping their female victims, parents in a number of these villages had prevented their daughters from traversing the roads after dark, fearful that they would be sexually molested. Other residents had said that they try to get home early in the evenings.
Among those attacked by the criminals was a young woman who was robbed by the AK-47 bandit, who was alone on this occasion; and mere days following that incident the duo went on a rampage at about 22:15h at Ghandi Street, Enterprise, robbing six men of cell phones, motorcycle keys, two bicycles, cash and jewellery.
The two men are also suspected of committing numerous other crimes, including an attack on a security guard, who, while on his way to work, was beaten severely with the butt of an AK-47 when he told the men that he had only $40.
Magistrate Hawke and his lawyer wife, both of Section ‘B’ Non Pariel, are suspected to have been attacked by James last April 20. Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle shortly after the incident, Hawke had stated that he and his wife were in the upper flat of their home when, about 12:30h, he went to the washroom and minutes after saw his frightened wife escorted by a masked man with an AK-47 assault rifle.
Recounting the harrowing experience, which lasted about 45 minutes, the Magistrate said that he was made to lie face down on the floor of the washroom, tied up, and a sheet was placed over his face, before the gunman demanded that they hand over all their valuables, including his wedding band.
The gunman also tied up Mrs. Hawke in a bedroom, but after the man escaped she managed to free herself and her husband. The thief escaped with a laptop computer, wrist watches, cellular phones, cash, jewels and a digital camera. Hawke, who sits in the Georgetown and Providence Courts, has been provided with security at his home since the incident.
Last Friday midday, police on the East Coast of Demerara, during a raid on a house in Haslington, East Coast Demerara, recovered an AK-47 rifle with eight matching rounds and a .32 Taurus revolver. Seized also were a cellular phone, five watches, a pair of cycling gloves and three bicycles that are suspected to have been stolen.
The cell phone, cycling gloves and one of the bicycles have been identified as being the property of the victims of an armed robbery at Enmore North last Thursday. One man had been arrested at that location. Further investigations led to police converging on a house at Beterverwagting, another East Coast Demerara village, where a lap top computer was recovered.
This was later identified as the property of Magistrate Hawke, stolen during the attack at his house. A man and a woman were arrested at the time. (Delana Isles/Guyana Cronicle)
Waitress dies after lover forces poison down her throat
Man in custody
Motherless and bereft: Isha Ally and her grandchildren, Donna (left) Keon (right) and Candacy.
A 28-year-old waitress of Number 11 Village, West Coast Berbice died yesterday morning after her lover poured a poisonous substance down her throat, accusing her of being unfaithful.
The woman, Iola Ashantie Reynolds who was employed at a Chinese Restaurant at Bush Lot was rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital around 6.30 am but succumbed around 10 am.
The man, with whom she had a visiting relationship that started last year, has since turned himself into the police and is in custody at the Fort Wellington Police Station as investigations continue. Reynolds was mother to three children, Donna Smith, 11; Keon Smith, 7 and five-year-old Candacy Britton.
Dead: Iola Ashantie Reynolds
After committing the act, the man calmly walked out of the woman’s apartment “when the place get bright,” ordering Reynolds not to “tell your mother wat ah do to you.”
Her mother, Isha Ally, 60, who resides in the upper flat of the house with the woman’s children, told Stabroek News that the man had been waiting at the roadside on Sunday until her daughter returned from work around 10 pm.
Once she got home, Ally said, he kept arguing with her and accusing her of “having another man.” The two went into the apartment together and the fighting continued throughout the night.
Around 4 am, Ally said, unable to rest because the man kept fighting with her daughter, she went outside and sat on her veranda. Shortly afterwards, she said, she saw the man bring her daughter, who had a towel wrapped around her, into the yard.
She also heard him shouting, “What I don’t like you mustn’t do… If I can’t get you, no man can’t get you!” The man then took Reynolds back into the apartment. Ally said that as he was leaving some time later, she heard him telling her daughter not to tell her mother what had he had done. She said her daughter waited until she was sure the man was gone then shouted, “Ow mommy, meh stomach blazing.” She then related that the man had forced poison down her throat.
The woman said she immediately ran to get a neighbour to assist her in taking her daughter to the hospital. The neighbour placed Reynolds on his bicycle and took her out the long street. At the public road they flagged down a taxi and rushed her to the hospital. When this newspaper visited the scene a greenish substance suspected to be poison was on the bed and a bowl of food was in a corner on the floor.
Ally said that the man who visited her daughter was always in the habit of beating her. She said many times she tried to intervene but the man would tell her “if you only say anything ah gon put it pun you too”.
According to her the man threatened her daughter on several occasions but she had never reported the threats to the police. Ally, who struggles to scrape by on what she earns as a domestic worker, now has to care for her grandchildren. (Shabna Ullah/Stabroek News)
May 18, 2009
Bandits in Chesney rampage…Labourer slain, grocer injured
Cash, jewellery taken
Ganesh ‘Baiyo’ Ramkellawan
A labourer of Chesney Back, Corentyne was shot dead around 7 pm on Saturday by a gunman, part of a gang that robbed two business places and injured one of the owners who is now a patient at the New Amsterdam Hospital.
Ganesh ‘Baiyo’ Ramkellawan, 34, who resided next to where the robberies took place, was sitting on a bench close to the door in his mother’s shop when he was hit by a stray bullet that the bandits fired as they were escaping.
Reports are that after he was wounded he attempted to run to the back of the yard but collapsed and died. When Stabroek News visited the scene yesterday, his mother, 59-year-old Mohanie ‘Betia’ Ramkellawan was crying inconsolably.
“Ow me son; dem kill me son and he na had wan dollar. If he had a dollar and dem bin rob he me woulda content…,” she lamented.
The Doodnauths’ ransacked bedroom
The woman told Stabroek News that she had just finished cooking a pot of macaroni and chicken and she left to go to another son’s house at the back to purchase cigarettes for Ganesh. She said while there she heard a noise that sounded like a “squib.”
She soon realized that it was gunshots after it continued in rapid fire succession and she along with her other son and family ran for cover. After the fusillade ended a resident ran over and said that Ganesh had been shot.
The bandits cut a mesh in Doodnauth’s shop to enter the house
She ran over with everyone only to see her son lying on the floor in a pool of blood. He appeared to be dead.
In tears Mohanie said that her son was waiting to have dinner together with her and his son, eight-year-old Ravi when tragedy struck. She showed this newspaper the pot of food that was left untouched.
Her son’s death was a shock, especially after she had lost her husband on April 13 [Easter Monday], exactly one month after she returned with him from the United States of America. Ganesh leaves to mourn his mother, son and six siblings.
Robberies
Before his shooting four masked bandits had chopped Amarnath Jaggernath, 59, – two houses away - on his left hand and shot him in both his legs around 6:45 pm. He appeared to have been shot with pellets
They then robbed him of a large quantity of cellular phone cards and the day’s sales from his grocery, hardware and off-licence beer garden.
The distraught Mohanie Ramkellawan with Ganesh’s son, Ravi
The bandits also entered the house and escaped with his licensed .32 revolver, $400,000 cash and a quantity of gold jewellery worth over $600,000. They also beat his wife Natranie, 53, during the ordeal.
Natranie told this newspaper that her husband was closing the gate when the four bandits approached him and one fired two chops at him with a cutlass. He barred the blows with his left hand resulting in his fingers and the palm of his hand being cut.
They also fired several shots at him, one of which hit him on his right leg and about “six or seven” pellets were embedded in his left leg. The woman who was in the shop waiting on her husband to come in and close up said that the bandits pulled him in and removed the items.
The mess the bandits left after raiding the Jaggernaths’ bedroom
With blood oozing from her husband’s wounds she heard a gunman telling one of his accomplices, “soldier man, shoot de man; kill de man.”
Terrified, she begged the bandits not to hurt her husband anymore but to go into the house and take whatever they wanted. They demanded their licensed firearm but she could not remember where it was kept.
The bandits gun-butted Jaggernath about his body and insisted that they wanted the weapon. He then retrieved it and handed it over along with ammunition. They then ransacked the couple’s bedroom and carted off the cash and jewellery.
Doodnauth’s television stand after the bandits pushed it down
Their daughter, Seema Ramkellawan, 31, who was returning from Georgetown, said she received a call from a resident informing her that her father was shot by bandits and was at the hospital. When she got there at around 8:30 pm her father was being treated in the emergency unit.
She did not realize how serious the robbery was until she got to the scene at around 11:30 pm and noticed that the entire place had been ransacked and “there was blood all over; in the front of the shop, in the room and in the hallway.”
According to Seema, her mother was “surprisingly very calm and courageous” after the ordeal. “Normally she would break down and panic easily but I’m very proud of her the way she dealt with everything.” Natranie also added, “I was surprised at myself that I stood up so strong.”
The Jaggernaths’ room
At the same time that the Jaggernaths were being robbed, some of the bandits ran to Maniram Doodnauth’s house next door where an off-licence beer garden is also operated. Luckily, the occupants realized that bandits were next door and disconnected the power from the main-switch and fled before the bandits could have confronted them.
However they had a close encounter because as some of the male occupants were trying to close the door the bandits made an unsuccessful attempt to force it open. Furious that they had been thwarted, the bandits went to another door that had been sealed off by two wooden bars and blocked by a television stand and kicked it open sending the stand with the television set, CD player and other articles crashing to the ground.
Meanwhile another went into the shop that was about to be closed and cut a mesh open to enter but by then about 16 persons who were sitting on the lower deck had already fled. In total darkness or apparently with the help of flashlights, the bandits ransacked the house and carted off $40,000, jewellery, a digital camera and three cellular phones.
Doodnauth’s daughter, Devitree said that her relatives had gathered at the house to say goodbye to her sister who was returning to Canada early yesterday morning.
She recalled that they ran through a back door, then a side gate and onto the street shouting “thief, thief!” She said some persons ran and hid in the neighbours’ yards [who helped by switching off their lights as well] and in the bushes, sustaining injuries in the process.
She said the bandits spent almost half an hour in the house and felt that if the police had responded promptly they would have caught them in the act.
As they were leaving the bandits saw the side gate open and escaped through it. They ran down the street cursing and firing shots wildly and it was at that stage that Ganesh was mortally wounded. Police recovered two pairs of sneakers along with five spent shells and one live 12-gauge cartridge at the scene. (Shabna Ullah/Stabroek News)
Patentia man stabbed to death after $500 row
Redwin Europe
Thirty-nine -year-old Redwin Europe was stabbed to death on Saturday evening by a man with whom he had an argument over $500 at the Wales Community Centre.
Europe also called ‘Buju’ of Two Fields, Patentia Housing Scheme, West Bank Demerara, had been preparing to travel to the interior yesterday and was attempting to make some money for his journey by setting up a gambling table which ultimately resulted in his death.
A release from the police said that the incident occurred at around 7:05 pm on Saturday when Europe and another man were gaming and an argument developed over money.
The release said that the other man went away and returned with a knife which he used to stab Europe in his back and escaped. Europe, a father of 11, was pronounced dead at the West Demerara Regional Hospital while the knife believed to have been used in the attack was recovered by the police.
When Stabroek News visited the man’s home, which he shares with a number of extended family members, his relatives were still in shock and disbelief over his death and questioned why a man would kill another over a mere $500 which was eventually returned. “He was planning to go back to the interior, come look, look he bags pack right here everything for him to go,” the man’s reputed wife Desiree Brummell related to Stabroek News yesterday.
She recalled that the area was holding a “village day” at the community centre and she had gone there to vend some black pudding among other items while Europe and a friend had set up the gambling board in the compound of the centre.
Reports are that following a game Europe and his attacker had an argument over the $500 and there was a scuffle between the two. “But he give he back the five hundred dollars but we didn’t know the man still vex and he went home fuh de knife,” Brummell, who is the mother of Europe’s three younger children, said.
According to one relative Europe had “chucked” the man who fell and grazed his side on an old freezer. The man, who was intoxicated at the time, stuck around the centre for a while but later left for his home nearby. “When he come back nobody ent know he had the knife but Buju daughter see how he been watching she father strong, strong, but nobody woulda think he guh do something like duh,” a relative said.
When the man returned, Europe was sitting on an old freezer and as soon as he turned his back the assailant rushed up to him, stabbed him in the back and dropped the knife before making his escape. According to relatives the man works at sea and from all indications the knife is one which he uses for his job. “Is a sea knife and he done know about ripping guts out from fish suh like he just push in the knife, turn it and pull it out,” a female relative of Europe said.
Brummell said after her husband was stabbed he fell to the ground and some persons strapped the wound while she ran and got a car. He was lying on her legs when he took his last breath even as she prayed that he would have made it to the hospital alive. “And then the car break down too and the road deh rough and every time the car juk up I praying that he ent go dead but he still dead,” the woman said yesterday morning.
According to relatives Europe had only recently changed his life and become a Christian and would always be reading his Bible and talking about how sinful the world is. “He ent use to gamble anymore but is duh lil money that he deh want to go back in the bush mek he set up the table, you see how the devil stay …he lead the man to his death,” a sister-in-law of the deceased lamented.
Relatives also reported that in recent times Europe constantly spoke about death and some now feel that he knew his end was near. “Only last week one a he friend dead and we went to the wake and somebody making joke and ask who next and he said `me’ and now look how he dead fuh true,” Brummell said with a sad shake of her head.
Brummell described her husband as a loving person, “he de loving, no problem really is only de lady dem but he did loving.” She said the man loved all of his children and even though most did not live with him he would look out for all of them.
The relatives of Europe are hoping that his attacker is caught soon and justice served. They said a taxi driver who transported him out of the area after the incident has since been held by the police. Europe has left his 11 children, ages one to 15, siblings, his wife and other relatives and friends to mourn his death. (Oluatoyin Alleyne/Stabroek News)
Bandits on Corentyne kill one man in robbery rampage
A group of bandits early Saturday morning went on a rampage in Corentyne, Berbice, killing one man and injuring another before carting off money and valuables from two families.
The first robbery was carried out at the Jaggernauth house at Back Street, Chesney, Corentyne, where 53-year-old Amarnauth Jaggernauth was approached by four masked men armed with a shotgun, a hand gun and cutlasses as he was closing the gate to his premises.
The men discharged a cartridge from the shotgun, hitting Jaggernauth in his abdomen and thighs and then carried him into his home where they also held up his wife, police reported yesterday. They then took away his licensed revolver and ammunition, $500,000 cash, jewellery and phone cards.
Contacted by this newspaper yesterday afternoon, the injured man’s daughter, Seema Jaggernauth, said that her father was shot seven times and is at present hospitalised. She said that although he is in a stable condition, Jaggernauth has six bullets lodged in one leg and another in the other leg.
The daughter said that her father is also nursing chops across his body as the cutlass was also used on him. The criminals then stormed the house next to the Jaggernauths’ residence.
But Maniram Doodnauth, resident of the house, upon hearing the gunshots from Jaggernauth’s home, escaped with his wife and other relatives, police reported. The abandoned house was ransacked by the armed men who took away $40,000 in cash, two cell phones and jewellery.
Moving along the same street, the bandits approached the residence of 34-year-old Ganesh Ramkellewan, who was standing outside of his premises, and according to reports, ordered him to enter the house, but he refused and was shot. He was hit in his chest by a cartridge from the shotgun.
Ramkellewan was pronounced dead on arrival at the New Amsterdam Hospital where he was rushed. Police said their investigations are continuing and so far five spent and one live 12 gauge cartridges have been recovered at the houses. (Guyana Cronicle)
May 16, 2009
Joint Services .....
....confiscate over 50kg of marijuana during Loo Lands raid
The confiscated marijuana.
The Joint Services on Thursday confiscated over 50 kilogrammes of Cannabis Sativa (marijuana) as it continues to battle the use and sale of illicit drugs.
The Government Information Agency (GINA) said the raid was part of an operation, code named ‘Operation Consolidation’, that is intended to remove illicit drugs from the streets.
The cache was confiscated from the Loo Lands area during a reconnaissance patrol conducted by ranks of the Joint services in the Demerara River.
During the patrol, five areas were searched and it was during the search of one of the areas suspected to have been a camp for persons involved in the planting of the marijuana that a quantity of the drugs was found concealed under cut branches.
This patrol followed the Sunday raid on Hararuni Creek in the Demerara River when the Joint Service destroyed seven fields covering a total of about seven acres and destroyed over 10,000 plants that were eight to nine feet in height, and 1500 seedlings.
Joint Services ranks uncovering the concealed marijuana at Loo Lands, Demerara River.
No one has been arrested in any of these raids. However, Joint Services have expressed its intention to continue to conduct these operations to remove illicit drugs from off the streets.
Government’s continued support for the Joint Services has enabled it to conduct these operations aimed at providing a safer society for all Guyanese. The upgrading of the equipment used by the law enforcement agencies in these operations has ensured that they are sustainable. (Guyana Cronicle)
May 14, 2009
Wife murder accused:
‘I can’t remember wah happen cause I deh drunk’
Ronald Charlie
“I kill meh wife,” stated Ronald Charlie, the South Rupununi farmer who is accused of beating his wife to death last Friday.
Charlie appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court yesterday before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson who told him that he was not required to plead to the capital offence of murder and remanded him to prison.
Charlie, a 55-year-old farmer of Waramit Farming Area, Awarewaunau Village, South Rupununi, allegedly murdered his wife Eunice Charlie on May 8 at his home. While standing in the dock of the court, Charlie stated that, “I can’t remember wah happen cause I deh drunk.”
The magistrate subsequently ordered that he be remanded to prison and that the case be transferred to the Lethem Magistrate’s Court for June 2.
The incident occurred around 23:30 hrs last Friday after Charlie and his wife returned from a function where they had reportedly consumed alcohol. (Stabroek News)
May 12, 2009
West Ruimveldt man remanded .....
..... over murder of GPL security chief
Arnim Griffith
Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson yesterday remanded to prison a 22-year-old West Ruimveldt resident charged with the murder of the power company’s security chief.
Arnim Griffith is accused of being a member of a gang of men who allegedly murdered Chief Security Officer of the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) Clifford Peters on May 4, while he was on an operation removing illegal electricity connections in the Lamaha Park squatting area.
An expressionless Griffith stood in the dock of the court at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court and was informed by the magistrate that he was not required to plead to the indictable charge of murder.
Griffith’s lawyer, Basil Williams called the charge “one of the tragedies of our justice system.” He said that last Tuesday his client was stopped by a mobile police patrol while he was riding his uncle’s motorcycle.
When asked for the documents for the motorcycle, Williams said, his client told the police he did not have them since the bike belonged to his uncle. He was then arrested and taken to the Brickdam Police Station. The lawyer said further that Griffith’s uncle was contacted and he went to the station and tendered the relevant documents.
The defence counsel said his client was kept in the police lock-ups for more than 72 hours and was afterwards told that he was being charged with robbery under arms. The following day, he said, his client was placed on an identification parade with 14 others and he was “allegedly picked out” as one of the persons involved in the murder of Peters. His client was then charged with murder.
The lawyer requested that the court take into consideration that no investigation was ever carried out by the police nor was there any evidence linking his client to the murder. Williams then stated that he may take the case to the High Court where he would request that bail be granted to his client under such circumstances.
He said his client had an unblemished record and that he lives with his mother and father at their West Ruimveldt home. He added that his client was an assistant building contractor, a body builder and a male model. He said the case needs to be “fast tracked” and that it should be transferred to Court Three or Two for a speedy preliminary inquiry which should not be extended over a three-year basis.
Police Prosecutor Denise Griffith then stated that the issues highlighted by Williams were merely part of his defence and differed from her facts. She said while the defendant was being arrested, the police had informed him about the murder he was accused of being involved in. She said he was never arrested for any robbery under arms.
Williams then stated that from information gathered, his client was initially charged with robbery under arms and that statements were written up at the police station for that, but were suddenly changed to statements about the murder of Peters. Griffith then requested that the prosecution be given three weeks for legal advice to be sought from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The magistrate subsequently ordered that Griffith be remanded to prison and that he appear back in court on June 5. Peters of Essequibo Street, Lamaha Springs (Joint Services Housing Scheme), died shortly after one of two armed men shot him in the neck, chest and about his body. He was rushed to the Davis Memorial Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Police in a press statement had said they were investigating the murder, which occurred while Peters and other GPL personnel were engaged in the removal of illegal electricity connections.
Two men had reportedly approached linesman Allan Savory. An argument developed and Savory called out to Peters who intervened and was shot multiple times by one of the men. The men, according to the police, escaped with Peters’ licensed revolver. A senior police source had said that the motive of the attack was not robbery. (Stabroek News)
Body found in cemetery trench
Deonarine Ishmael
The partially decomposed body of an Albouystown man was discovered yesterday afternoon in a trench at the northern end of Le Repentir Cemetery. Deonarine Ishmael, also known as ‘Dennis Persaud,’ 62, of Lot 152 James and Non Pariel streets, Albouystown, was identified by his sister. There were no apparent marks of violence on the man’s body.
Reports are that Ishamel’s body, clad only in a shirt, was seen floating in the trench by a resident at the now condemned western entrance of the cemetery at St Stephen’s Street. Sandra Ramatar yesterday said that her brother had been missing since last Monday. Ishmael, according to the woman, may have left the house some time that night or by mid-morning on Tuesday.
While the woman stressed that Ishmael suffered from no mental illnesses she explained that he was admitted to the hospital late last month. Her brother, she reported, was a “heavy drinker” and as a result had become sick. “He used to drink a lot,” Ramatar told Stabroek News. “He’s been missing since last week Monday and I even went to the Kaieteur News and reported him missing to the police.”
Lyken’s Funeral Parlour porters preparing to remove Deonarine Ishmael’s body from the vegetated area at the northern end of Le Repentir Cemetery where it was discovered yesterday.
The distressed sister explained that she had been searching for Ishmael up to yesterday morning and was shocked when police showed up at her house to inform her that they had discovered a body that might be his.
When Stabroek News arrived at the scene shortly before 3 pm yesterday police were not yet present. Criminal Investigation Department ranks arrived about 30 minutes later and the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour was called to cart the body away. Ramatar said that while she did not suspect foul play in her brother’s death she did not understand how his body “ended up in the trench.”
Meanwhile, police up to late last evening had not issued a statement on the matter and there was no indication as to whether Ishmael’s case was being treated as a crime. A post-mortem examination will be conducted on the body shortly.
Residents who live in the immediate area voiced their concern about the state of Le Repentir Cemetery. The area, they said, has been overgrown with vegetation for many years and despite several complaints the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has failed to do anything. “Look at that area,” one man stated. “It overgrown and it does pitch black in the night. Somebody can drag you in there and do anything to you… is a usual thing them always finding bodies somewhere in there.”
The cemetery and its immediate surroundings need to be cleared, residents reiterated. City Mayor Hamilton Green last evening stated that the council accepts that Le Repentir Cemetery is in “unsatisfactory condition.” However, he opined that crimes or possible crimes at that location should not be linked to the state of the cemetery alone. “I accept the fact that the cemetery is in unsatisfactory condition,” the mayor said. “We are making special efforts to pull in some special funds…we just don’t have enough funds to address the problem.” (Stabroek News)
Rupununi woman battered to death
A Rupununi woman who was allegedly beaten to death last Friday is the latest addition to the growing list of fatal domestic violence cases. According to a police release, Eunice Charlie, 55, of Waramit Farming Areas, Awaruwaunau Village, South Rupununi, died at the Lethem Hospital after she was lashed several times by her husband.
The release said the incident occurred around 23:30 hrs on Friday, when Charlie and her husband returned from a function, where they reportedly consumed alcohol. They had an argument, during which the man allegedly dealt the woman several lashes about her body with a piece of wood. Charlie was subsequently rushed to the hospital where she died, while her husband is now in police custody as investigation continues.
Charlie’s death came mere hours after that of Gertrude Edwards, 31, whose throat was slit at Ithaca by a man with whom she had shared a relationship. Edwards’s reputed husband, Gladstone Williamson, of Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam, has since been arrested. (See story on page 18.) It is alleged that he slit her throat with a knife then turned it on her daughter, 13-year-old Kerry Edwards and niece Samantha Charles, 16, before escaping. Both girls are in the New Amsterdam Hospital.
Stabbing victim succumbs
Meanwhile, six months after female security guard Patricia Rose was stabbed by her ex-boyfriend, she succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital on Saturday. Rose, 44, of Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara, was attacked while she was on duty at the Georgetown School of Nursing, East Street, on November 1, last year. The man had reportedly scaled the fence and stabbed the woman in her stomach, neck, face and right arm before escaping.
On March 31, Pamela Mangru, 39, was fatally stabbed. Her reputed husband, Devon Limerick, has since been charged with her murder.
On March 12, Savitrie Arjune, of Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, a mother of two and an employee of Roti Plus, was stabbed to death by her former reputed husband. He escaped and is still to be apprehended.
On February 14, Deborah Allen, 38, of Port Kaituma, North West District, was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital after being chopped by her reputed husband. Her teenage daughter was chopped across the face and spent several days in the Georgetown Hospital. The two had an argument over a party they had gone to shortly before the incident. The attacker subsequently turned himself over to the police.
That same day, two women, Nekecia Rouse, 25, and her sister-in-law Alexis George, 18, were slashed to death in New Amsterdam. Their attacker is still being sought.
On February 8, less than a day after she was allegedly stabbed by her husband following an argument, Latoya Conway Woolford succumbed to her injuries at the Georgetown Public Hospital. The husband fled after the incident and attempted to commit suicide. He spent several days in hospital before being taken to court charged with the capital offence. (Stabroek News)
Police nab Ithaca murder suspect
Gladstone Williamson
The suspect wanted in connection with the early Friday morning murder of Gertrude Edwards at Ithaca, West Berbice, was captured yesterday in a cane field at Lochaber, West Canje.
Police sources told this newspaper that based on information received ranks combed the area and around 10 am they caught Gladstone Williamson, 31. He is expected to be charged shortly.
Reports are that he slit the throat of Edwards who was his reputed wife. The man then allegedly attempted to murder her daughter, Kerry Edwards and a niece, Samantha Charles by slitting their throats as well, after Edwards ran over to a neighbour’s house to seek help.
She collapsed and died on the neighbour’s stairs while the police took the girls to the New Amsterdam Hospital where they were admitted patients in the Intensive Care Unit.
This newspaper learnt that the girls were improving and that yesterday they were transferred to the open ward. Edwards was said to have left her home at Angoy’s Avenue a few months ago to escape abuse at the hands of Williamson.The man’s mother, Brenda Williamson of Ituni had said that she spent last Christmas with the couple and although she witnessed her son and Edwards quarrelling, she had never seen him beating Edwards.
However, she said, both Edwards and the couple’s neighbours had complained to her that her son was in the habit of beating Edwards. She said she sat and talked to her son about his abusive attitude towards her daughter-in-law. According to her, she told him, “It wasn’t right to hit her and if he was angry he should have walked away.”
The neighbour, Oluremi Anthony who Edwards ran to for help, told this newspaper that around 12:15 am she was jerked out of her sleep by loud pounding on her door and looked out to see the blood-soaked Edwards on the landing clutching her throat.
Unable to speak, Edwards pointed in the direction of her home and removed her hand briefly to show the gaping wound. Edwards, a vendor at the New Amsterdam stelling, was last seen at an Indian Arrival Day celebration at the Blairmont Centre Ground on Thursday night. A woman told this newspaper that Edwards, who appeared to be in her usual jolly mood, left to go home when the show ended after 11 pm.
There are reports that the woman entered the home with Williamson, and after some time they started arguing and then he his attack Edwards had been occupying the apartment at Ithaca with Kerry and Samantha as well as two smaller children she had borne for Williamson. Six-year-old Gladstone Jnr and five-year-old Althea Williamson were unharmed. (Stabroek News)
May 9, 2009
Ithaca woman slashed to death, .....
niece, daughter wounded
Suspect on the run
Gertrude Edwards with her former reputed husband, Gladstone Williamson
Another woman is dead after her former reputed husband allegedly slit her throat with a kitchen knife just after midnight yesterday at Ithaca, West Coast Berbice before turning it on her daughter and a niece and then escaping.
Dead is Gertrude Edwards, 31; while her 13-year-old daughter Kerry Edwards and 16-year-old niece Samantha Charles are nursing wounds to their throats at the New Amsterdam hospital.
Kerry is said to be in a serious condition while Samantha is listed as critical. Up to press time, their alleged attacker, Gladstone ‘Addy’ Williamson, a sugar worker, was still on the run.
Mortally wounded, with blood gushing from the gaping wound to her neck, Edwards ran out of her one-bedroom apartment and into a neighbour’s yard obliquely opposite where she collapsed and died. Undertakers from the Anthony’s Funeral Establishment removed her body and took it to the New Amsterdam hospital mortuary around 2 am.
When this newspaper visited the scene yesterday morning, a mat was rolled up in the middle of the apartment and bloodstains were on the bed where the children had been sleeping and on the floor. Trails of blood were also evident in the yard, in front of the gate next door, which she had been using to access her home and along the road to the neighbour’s yard obliquely opposite.
Backup ranks from the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department in Georgetown along with a tracker dog arrived at the scene around 10.50 am yesterday and combed the area for the man.
The dog led the officers into a yard at the back of the house where the suspect apparently escaped through after jumping the fence, then to a bushy trail in the backlands. However their efforts to capture the suspect were unsuccessful.
Edwards, a vendor at the New Amsterdam stelling had moved out of from her Angoy’s Avenue, home last October, reportedly to escape abuse at the hands of her reputed husband. She was last seen at an Indian Arrival Day celebration at the Blairmont Centre Ground on Thursday night.
A tracker dog heading for the backlands.
She was occupying the apartment at Ithaca with Kerry and Samantha as well as two smaller children she had borne for Williamson. Six-year-old Gladstone Jnr and five-year-old Althea Williamson were unharmed.
Reports are that Edwards was walking around the Blairmont Ground selling chips while her former partner of Angoy’s Avenue was also there selling drinks, separately. A woman told this newspaper that Edwards, who appeared to be in her usual jolly mood, left to go home when the show ended after 11 pm. There are reports that the woman entered the home with the suspect, and after some time they started arguing.
Sources said he then whipped out what looked like a kitchen knife – that was later recovered at the scene close to the fence – and slashed her throat. She fled and Williamson then turned the knife on her niece and her daughter from another union.
Sources said that it was “unimaginable” that with the extent of the wound, the woman managed flee and climb a flight of stairs to reach the neighbour’s landing. Oluremi Anthony told this newspaper that around 12:15 am she was jerked out of her sleep by loud pounding on her door. She said her husband peered through the window and saw the blood-soaked woman on the landing clutching her throat.
They then put on the lights in the house and opened the door. Unable to speak, Edwards pointed in the direction of her home and removed her hand briefly to show the gaping wound. She motioned that she wanted some water which Anthony gave to her.
According to Anthony, after Edwards drank the water she lay flat on the landing, her neck leaning on one side and “fluttered” a little then apparently took her last breath. Her blood also seeped under the door into Anthony’s house.
Meanwhile, Anthony said, her terrified children were in the bedroom screaming, thinking that the loud pounding was coming from bandits. Anthony assured them that everything was alright but told them to
remain in their room. She said that on seeing the woman’s condition she telephoned the Blairmont and Fort Wellington police stations and they responded promptly while her husband called out the neighbours for assistance.
As all of this was happening, Edwards’ son and Samantha had run over to a relative’s home to inform her of the ordeal. Anthony, who runs a supermarket below her home, said Edwards and her children would leave home around 6 am to go to New Amsterdam to sell and attend school respectively. She would not see them until they returned in the afternoon.
Another neighbour described the dead woman as being very friendly and said she would see her with her children at church on Saturdays. A resident of Angoy’s Avenue who lived near Williamson and Edwards when they were a couple told this newspaper that Williamson had been in the habit of abusing the woman. He said that a few months ago “he [Williamson] was beating her as if he was beating cow and I went and save her.”
Edwards is the latest in a growing list of women who have been killed or maimed recently. On May 2, the body of 20-year-old Naiomi Singh of Morashee, East Bank Essequibo was discovered in a in a drain at the back of her residence with her throat slit. Rudolph Williams, a labourer who had worked for her father has since been charged with her murder.
On April 23, 22-year-old Yolanda Brummell of Lot 1210 ‘B’ Field Sophia was rushed to the Georgetown hospital at approximately 4.15 am, bleeding profusely from a wound to her abdomen. She had been attacked by her reputed husband who then escaped.
On April 20, Maria Ward, 21, of North Haslington, East Coast Demerara, was admitted to the Georgetown hospital with a slash to her throat and three stab wounds to her body, including one to her left temple. She had been attacked by the father of her son who accused her of being unfaithful.
On March 31, 39-year-old Pamela Mangru was stabbed her three times in the throat and slashed about her body. She subsequently bled to death. Her alleged attacker and reputed husband Devon Limerick has since been charged with her murder.
On March 12 , Savitrie Arjune of Lot 382 Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, a mother of two and an employee of Roti Plus was stabbed to death by her former reputed husband. He escaped and is still to be apprehended.
In February, 38-year-old Deborah Allen of Port Kaituma, North West District, was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital after being chopped by her reputed husband. Her teenaged daughter was chopped across the face and spent several days in the Georgetown Hospital. The two had an argument over a party they had gone to shortly before the incident. The attacker subsequently turned himself over to the police.
That same day, two women, Nekecia Rouse, 25, and her sister-in-law, 18-year-old Alexis ‘Keisha’ George were slashed to death in New Amsterdam. Their attacker is still being sought. (Shabna Ullah/Stabroek News)
May 8, 2009
Cops seeking two over taxi driver murder
Cladwin Sherwin 
Mc Donald Eon Daniels
Police are seeking two men for questioning in relation to the murder of taxi-driver Rolston Henry and issued wanted bulletins for them yesterday.
Eon Daniels, 23, of Better Hope, East Coast Demerara (ECD) and Cladwin Sherwin Mc Donald, 21, of Goed-verwagting Squatting Area, ECD, are wanted by the police for questioning in relation to the murder of Henry whose body was found at Onion Field, La Bonne Intention, ECD, on Sunday, the lawmen said.
Daniels was described as being of medium built and is five feet, six inches tall while McDonald was described as being thinly built and is six feet tall.
Henry was found with his throat slashed at Onion Field, La Bonne Intention, ECD on Sunday. His hands were bound behind his back, he was gagged and his body bore stab wounds and there were burn marks to his chest.
A post-mortem examination revealed that he died of haemorrhaging and shock due to incised wounds. Police, in a statement had said that the body was discovered at 4.30 pm on Sunday at LBI and bore marks of violence to the throat and other parts and his hands were tied behind his back with wire.
The car that Henry operated, PKK 9036, had been found earlier at 6.30 am in a trench at Plaisance, ECD. The amplifier was missing. On Tuesday, a source had told this newspaper that a gold and silver ring and an amplifier from the car that Henry was driving were recovered.
The lawmen, in their statement yesterday asked that anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of Daniels and Mc Donald are asked to contact the police on telephone numbers 225-6411, 225-2700, 226-2917, 225-8196, 225-2227, 911, 229-2700 to 3, or the nearest police station. All information will be treated with strict confidence, the police said. (Stabroek News)
May 7, 2009
Labourer charged with murdering Morasi girl
Rudolph Williams Naiomi Singh
A labourer appeared at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate’s Court yesterday, charged with the murder of Morasi resident, Naiomi Singh and was remanded to prison.
Rudolph Williams of Morasi, East Bank Essequibo was not required to plead to the capital offence of murder. It is alleged that last Friday, at Morasi he murdered Singh.
The woman’s murder has stunned the small riverain village of about sixty residents. She was discovered by her father, Mohan Singh, who pulled her body from a drain, where it was covered by a thin layer of slushy mud on Friday night.
Police, in a press statement had said that Singh, who was to have been married shortly, was home alone that day. Her father returned home and discovered her missing; a search was conducted and Naiomi’s body was found at approximately 9 pm. A post-mortem examination on Monday revealed that she died from shock and haemorrhage due to an incised wound on her neck.
Williams reportedly worked with the victim’s father up to the time of the incident and “disappeared” shortly after the young woman’s body was discovered. The man, residents had told this newspaper, had recently returned to Morasi and was living with close relatives. He will return to court on June 18 at the Leonora Magistrate’s Court. (Stabroek News)
May 6, 2009
Ex Suriname trade minister found guilty of money laundering
Siegfried Gilds
Former Surinamese Trade Minister, Siegfried Gilds was convicted on a money laundering charge on Monday and sentenced to a year in prison for his involvement in a relative’s drug deal.
The Minister was found guilty of laundering drug money from a cousin in The Netherlands, by buying houses and land between 2000 and 2005 while serving in the government.
The Associated Press reported that the relative, Andy Groenwoud testified against Gilds saying that he was his business representative in Suriname.
Groenwoud was sentenced in 2006 for related drug convictions. Gilds, who was also Justice Minister before being appointed Suriname’s Trade Minister in 2005, maintains his innocence and is expected to appeal the ruling.
Caribbean Net News reported that Gilds’ trial started in 2006 after prosecutors in Suriname were tipped off from the Dutch authorities in the Netherlands about his ties to the money laundering deal. It said too, that his cousin revealed during his trial that the minister was his agent in Suriname, taking care of his financial and other businesses.
The report said also that Gilds is the second ex-minister from the ruling New Front coalition led by President Ronald Venetiaan, who has been found guilty on criminal charges, adding that last December former minister of Public Works, Dewanand Balesar was sentenced to a two-year jail term for corruption.
Further, it noted that while he served as Justice Minister Gilds had announced a plan with the Netherlands to fight cocaine trafficking between Suriname and Europe, and that he had resigned his post as Trade Minister shortly after being appointed, citing his cousin’s drug investigation. (Stabroek News)
May 5, 2009
GPL Security Chief killed leading illegal connections raid in Sophia Shot at point-blank range
Guyana Power & Light (GPL) Chief Security Officer Clifford Peters, alias Malvin, of Lot 48 ‘N’ Essequibo Street, Lamaha Springs, was shot dead yesterday while on a mission to oversee the removal of illegal electricity connections in Lamaha Park, East La Penitence, another part of Georgetown.
A Police report said it happened about 10:30 hrs when Peters headed a team of employees from the utility engaged in the exercise and one of them, Alan Savory was approached by two men. An argument developed and Savory called out to Peters who intervened and was shot in his head and chest by one of the duo. The two reportedly took away Peters’ licensed revolver and escaped on a motorcycle.
His distraught wife of 36 years, Eileen Peters, did not go to her nursing job on receiving the news. She told the Guyana Chronicle she had just sat down to have lunch around noon when her sister-in-law, telephoned and said the injured man was at Davis Memorial Hospital.
However, the caller did not mention that he had died but, a few minutes after, Mrs. Peters said she received another message informing her of his death and that the body was at Lyken Funeral Parlour, Norton and John Streets, Newburg, also in the city.
The now widow said, in all her 35-odd years as a nurse, she had witnessed many deaths but none of it had prepared her for the killing of her husband who had, hours earlier, left home in good health. Accompanied by other family members, she rushed down to the funeral home to view her husband’s corpse. “It was not a good sight,” she confessed.
Meanwhile, GPL expressed shock and sadness, following the brutal murder of Peters while on duty. The company, in a press statement, confirmed that the shooting took place in Lamaha Park, at about 10:30 hrs. GPL said Peters, a former Senior Superintendent of Police, was executing his duties as a member of the Loss Reduction Field Service team.
The statement said the team was removing illegal connections when they were ambushed and came under gunfire attack. GPL said Peters was forced to the ground and shot at point blank range in the head and died on the spot. Savory, GPL said, was also forced to the ground with a gun pointed at him but he managed to escape while two other employees in the group witnessed the murder from in a GPL vehicle.
GPL noted that, at one of its press conferences led by the Prime Minister Samuel Hinds last Thursday, the issue of electricity theft was highlighted and Chairman of the Board, Mr. Winston Brassington reported that over the period 2007/2008, some 23,000 illegal connections were discovered and that, despite approximately 800 arrests, only two persons were sent to jail.
The utility routinely carries out raids to detect illegal connections and, in 2007 and 2008, at least 370 were executed and the one yesterday was among many Peters led. GPL extended its condolences to the Peters family and again appealed to persons with information on others who may have perpetuated the “brutal and incomprehensible act” to contact the Police.
Peters who spent 38 years in the Guyana Police Force, retired in 2006 at the rank of Senior Superintendent and would have celebrated his 36th wedding anniversary on June 30. He also leaves to mourn his mother, Edna, six children, two brothers, five sisters, three grandchildren and other relatives. (Michel Outridge and Shirley Thomas/Guyana Cronicle)
May 4, 2009
Murder of bride-to-be stuns Morasi
Suspect detained
Naiomi Singh
Morasi, a quiet East Bank Essequibo farming community, remains flooded with unspoken fears even after police apprehended the man suspected to have murdered a 20-year-old woman.
Naiomi Singh, a bright, well-respected woman in the small riverain village of about 60 residents, was found dead concealed beneath a thin layer of slushy mud in a drain behind her home. She was fully dressed and the only apparent injury to her body was a slit to the throat.
Police, in a press statement issued on Saturday evening, had said they are investigating “the suspected murder of Naiomi Singh” which occurred on Friday. The woman, according to the police, was reportedly home alone that day.
Her father returned home and discovered her missing; a search was conducted the same evening and Naiomi’s body was discovered at approximately 9 pm. The body remains at the West Demerara Regional Hospital mortuary; a post-mortem is yet to be conducted.
Police are still not sure what might have been the motive of the man suspected to have murdered Naiomi. However, the prime suspect, was apprehended by police yesterday morning.
The man, who worked with the victim’s father up to the time of the incident, reportedly “disappeared” shortly after the young woman’s body was discovered. The man, villagers explained, had recently returned to Morasi and was living with close relatives.
Relatives of Naiomi Singh pointing to the slush-filled drain in which her body was buried.
He “would normally smoke up he thing,” one resident alleged. “He was often in trouble for stealing from people as well…many of us have had our fair share of trouble with him.”
But murder, they asked clearly shocked, only he and God know whether he took Naiomi’s life. Crime is not alien to Morasi, villagers explained, but murder is something that no one remembers happening in the village until now.
“Of course Morasi has its share of crime,” a respected villager admitted. “We have the odd person stealing crop and a fowl here and there…but never have we dealt with murder. The entire village feels pain at losing Naiomi but even we can’t imagine what must be happening to her family.”
Kesharie Singh lay in a hammock at her Morasi home yesterday; mere feet from the spot where her daughter’s body was found. Tears flowed periodically from the woman’s eyes as, perhaps, memories of her dead daughter surfaced.
The distressed mother explained that two years ago her husband, Mohan Singh, had a “misunderstanding” with the suspect. The suspect, Kesharie alleged, was a known “petty thief” and during 2007 had accused Mohan of telling fellow villagers that he had stolen from them.
“He showed up at our house two years ago and cuss up,” Kesharie recalled. “He threatened to burn our house down and said he would kill us.”
The matter had been reported to the Parika Police Station. Quarrels, like in all small isolated places like Morasi, would fade over time Kesharie said. The suspect had been working with her husband as a labourer at their farm up to the time of the incident. The man, Kesharie said, had been at their house late last Thursday afternoon to collect his pay. However, the woman said that Naiomi and the suspect had no problems nor would the man “trouble” her daughter in any way.
“Friday afternoon was the last time I see or talk to Naiomi,” she said. “My younger daughter, son and me left for market around 5.45 that afternoon. Mohan and a worker accompanied us to the waterfront with our load and Naiomi was left at home by herself.”
“…he heard her say no, no, no…”
Naiomi was still alive up to 6.20 pm on Friday, relatives said. At that time she was on the phone with her fiancé; this has been confirmed by police. The 20-year-old was set to be married on 21 June, Kesharie said. Shortly before her demise, the mother related, Naiomi was talking to her intended husband. Naiomi’s fiancé was the last person to hear from her.
“He [the fiancé] said he was talking to Naiomi on the phone when she told him that somebody coming through the front,” Kesharie said. “She tell him to hold on and left to go attend to the person…he heard her say no, no, no and that was the last.”
Kesharie said her daughter’s fiancé later indicated that he’d kept the connection for about 15 minutes but Naiomi did not return to the phone. The young man, according to her, immediately tried to contact them because “he had a feeling something was wrong”. Mohan returned home at approximately 6.45pm and found the house empty. Word of Naiomi’s disappearance was immediately spread and a search launched for the young woman.
Just over two hours later Mohan discovered his daughter’s body buried by a thin layer of slushy mud in a drain behind their home. An ill concealed body part caught Mohan’s attention and he was forced to dig his daughter out of her shallow grave. Naiomi, her mother said, was fully clothed complete with her jewellery.
The suspect, relatives reported, had been with the group periodically throughout the search. He was there when the body was found, they said, but disappeared some time between Friday night and Saturday morning.
“He did the strangest thing,” Kesharie said. “Before we found Naiomi’s body he told someone that she was dead…how did he know that? He disappeared right after that.”
Police and military ranks, Kesharie said, worked diligently and were able to locate the man yesterday morning. Morasi, the woman explained, was only accessible from the Essequibo river via “a lengthy” boat ride or a dam which could be used during the dry season and sometimes only by foot or heavy duty vehicles.
The police, Kesharie stated, realized they had him cornered and moved fast. The suspect’s brother has also been taken into custody for questioning. “I don’t know why…I just don’t know why he or if he had company why they did this to my daughter.” (Sara Bharrat/Stabroek News)
Taxi driver murdered
A 42-year-old taxi driver reported missing after not returning home from work in the city on Saturday night was yesterday afternoon found dead by police at La Bonne Intention, East Coast Demerara. His wife, Carmelita Collins, confirmed that Rawle Henry, with whom she shared a home at 15 D’Urban Backlands, when found by police, was tied up, his throat slit and body partially burnt.
Collins, who had earlier in the day turned up weeping at the Georgetown Public Hospital mortuary in search of her husband, said that on Saturday night he phoned her before midnight, saying that he would be home soon. “But I waited, and when I didn’t see him, I became worried,” she related.
She said she could not sleep for the remainder of the night, and when it was morning and he still did not return home, she reported the matter to the police and checked several places, including the Georgetown Hospital; but there was no trace of him.
While at the hospital, she called his cell phone number and got a rude response in which a male voice used indecent language. This prompted greater fears and she wept openly outside the hospital gate. Shortly after, she received a telephone call from someone who asked her to report to the Plaisance Police Station.
On arrival there she learnt that the car Henry was driving had been found, but he was still missing.
It was about mid-afternoon when the police found the body. (Guyana Cronicle)
May 3, 2009
Killer on the loose in Morashee… Teenager’s murder rocks quiet farming communityMurdered: Naomi Singh.
Naomi Singh, who was left alone at home for a few hours, was killed by persons unknown and her bloodied body dumped in a drain at the back of her yard. Her throat appeared to have been slit. Several suspects were at press time said to be in custody assisting the police with their investigations.
Naomi’s father, Mohan Singh, 46, told the Chronicle that he returned home Friday evening after accompanying his wife, another daughter, and his son to the road head at Hubu, also on the East Bank Essequibo. The group was on their way to the Parika Market, some miles away, to sell their produce of mainly ground provisions.
The grieving farmer said that upon his return home, he called out to Naomi as per usual but got no answer. Soon after, he said, he heard his cell phone ring. It was Naomi’s boyfriend calling to speak with her. He told her father he’d just spoken to her by telephone about half an hour ago.
Calling out to Naomi again and getting no answer, Singh said he became worried as it was customary for her to come running to him.
Naomi’s father, Mohan Singh, and her sister, Dhanwatie George, yesterday. (Photo by Adrian Narine)
“I asked my workman, who was with me to help me look for her and when the search in and around the house proved futile, we alerted relatives, the neighbours and the police,” he explained.
He said they even took torch lights and ventured out into the neighbourhood to search for her. He said Naomi’s boyfriend was with them when they found the body.
So too were the Police and other close relatives. She was lying in a pool of blood with her skirt hitched up to her face and her throat slashed. Her face was also covered in mud.
Seeing the state she was in, he said he did the fatherly thing and pulled her skirt back in place. Weeping uncontrollably, Singh said: “I cannot say who would do such a thing, because I live well with everyone. I have no nearby neighbours; my daughter was killed like a cow and left there.”
He explained that she had been left behind to man the small shop the family runs. He said there was no blood inside the house, and that nothing was missing, thereby ruling out robbery as the motive.
He said it appears as though his daughter was killed right there in the drain where she was found, having put up a fierce struggle for her life. “From all appearances, it seems as though the killer or killers knew Naomi and killed her to cover up their tracks,” he said.
He recalled receiving a telephone call a few months ago from a female caller, who turned out to be the ‘child-mother’ of his daughter’s boyfriend. He said the young woman threatened both him and his daughter, but that he’d clean forgotten about it until now. He said the woman had used such strong language to him, that he’d had to call in the Police, who gave her a stern warning, as did her ‘child-father’ who had been apprised of what she had done.
The pretty 19-year-old was expected to be married next month to her boyfriend, who hails from Parika. She was described as friendly and a homemaker. She was also said to be “ very much in love.” The body is presently at the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) mortuary, Police said. (Michelle Outridge/Guyana Cronicle)
May 2, 2009
Bus man stabbed to death over DVDs
Rupert Randolph Gill
A 51-year-old Parfait Harmonie man was fatally stabbed in the neck yesterday after he intervened in a matter “concerning the burning of DVDs”, police said in a press statement last night.
The suspect had not been arrested up to press time last night. However, a police source reported that ranks were dispatched to the Yarrow Dam, Georgetown area in search of the man. According to the source, the suspect reportedly fled to the Georgetown location after the incident.
Rupert Randolph Gill, a minibus driver/mechanic of Parfait Harmonie, West Bank Demerara, was fatally wounded at about 5.30 pm yesterday. Investigations, the police said, revealed that Gill was in a shop, when he “intervened in a matter concerning the burning of DVDs between the suspect and the shop owner”. It was during this verbal intervention that Gill was stabbed to his neck by the DVD vendor. Gill, according to the police release, was taken to the West Demerara Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Details of the incident remain unclear. However, when Stabroek News visited the scene shortly before 8.30 pm yesterday residents reported that Gill and the alleged attacker had “no previous problems”. The deceased, a relative recalled, left his Parfait Harmonie home for the shop; located mere streets away. A short while later, the relative said, a message was dispatched informing them of Gill’s death.
“We still don’t know what happen,” the distressed relative said. “He left home and the next thing we hear is that he get stab in the neck.” Deborah Gill, wife of the deceased, was up to press time last night with police at a house located in the Yarrow Dam area. Gill, according to close friends, accompanied police there to aid in identifying the suspect.
“Rupi [Rupert Gill] was a good man. He was a family man,” A close friend said yesterday. “We are all shocked to hear of his death…he and his children were close and they will suffer the most in this.” (Sara Bharrat/Stabroek News)
