Edris Chester of Buxton is no stranger to tragedy. She had watched in horror while gunmen burnt down her house at Friendship three years ago and shot her son and other relatives. Two years later one of her daughters was killed at the hands of a jealous man and just when she thought things couldn’t get any worse, her grandson mysteriously disappeared from a family property at Brushe Dam, Friendship last year and is feared dead.
Nkomo Chester, who would have celebrated his 20th birthday last week Friday, was reported to have been abducted by gunmen in Buxton some time around January 15 last year. Relatives believe he was killed and that the gunmen disposed of his body either in a shallow-grave or by burning it. “Even if it was his bones we got back we would have been thankful – but nothing,” Edris Chester said to Stabroek News last week.
Several other men of crime-ravaged Buxton, which a joint services contingent continues to occupy since last year April, suffered the same fate. Family members said the young man was last seen on January 15 and since then he has not showed up at the family’s home and is feared dead. Relatives said that they were reliably informed by sources in Buxton that Nkomo was abducted from the Chesters’ Friendship property, which was abandoned following the torching three years ago, and taken somewhere in the village and killed. “He is dead, I know he is dead and they are doing all of this to get at me,” a relative of the missing man said.
Edris Chester said her family has endured enough at the hands of the criminals in Buxton. She told Stabroek News on Friday that she was now feeling the shock of her grandson’s disappearance. “This thing is now getting to me and to bring it to a closure would be very helpful.” The woman said she has heard murmurs in the village that Nkomo is in the hinterland working, but strangely, she said the rumour was coming from someone who has ties with the Buxton gunmen. Edris Chester said she was disappointed with the police efforts so far, noting that there were clues which they could have taken up, but nothing was done.
As for now, she still hopes that the case would be closed. She said her grandson was a very cheerful and helpful person and his younger siblings have been asking for him.
Police on the East Coast had confirmed at the time the young man went missing that they had received information that he was believed buried in the said Friendship yard. A team of police and soldiers went into the area last year and searched the property but found no trace of the man or any evidence of him being buried there.
Nkomo had moved away from Buxton with the rest of the Chester clan following the torching of the family home, but he later moved out and went to live in a shop at the family’s Friendship property. However, he continued to visit his relatives. They said they last saw Nkomo around 9 pm on January 15. Some time between January 15 and January 18, Nkomo was taken from his Friendship home and killed by the gunmen, relatives said, adding that they too had made checks at the burnt-out property but found no trace of him.
Police and soldiers last year had cordoned off the yard and searched for over an hour before departing empty-handed. Most of the yard is covered with thick weeds.
Edris Chester’s son, Brian Chester, was shot one night when a large gang of gunmen descended on the family at their Brushe Dam home, burning, looting and shooting at the occupants. The Chesters fled the village but continue to be targeted by criminals.
In the past, Buxton gunmen have buried their victims and sometimes burnt them. Several young men have gone missing from the community and until now, there has been no word on their whereabouts.
Four sugar workers were abducted two years on the East Coast. It is believed the men were taken to the Buxton area. There has been no sighting of them. In a high-profile operation last year, the police raided Buxton and spent several days in the village searching for gunmen as well as weapons and ammunition. The gunmen were not found, neither was there any seizure of weapons. The joint services have established a camp aback of the village following the disappearance of the 30 AK-47 rifles from the army storage bond at Camp Ayanganna and the assassination of Agriculture Minister Satyadeow Sawh.