Police intend to contact overseas law enforcement agencies in an attempt to determine the identity of the two bound and decomposed bodies which were found on Thursday and Saturday in Corentyne, Berbice, acting Commissioner of Police Henry Greene said yesterday.
Greene told Stabroek News that the police will be making contact with agencies overseas as it is widely believed that the two Caucasian-looking men are not Guyanese. The acting commissioner indicated that there is no missing person report in the Berbice area and no one has come forward to identify the two men. He also said that Suriname has not made contact with the police in Guyana about any missing persons in that country.
One of the theories is that the men could have come from Suriname because of the area where the bodies were found.
Greene said that post-mortem examinations may be done on the bodies tomorrow.
The men’s hands and feet were bound together with pieces of green rope. Their heads were completely bald and their teeth, eyes, ears and parts of their faces were missing.
Police Commander ‘B’ Division Clinton Conway told Stabroek News that they are working on all possible leads into the deaths, but he didn’t believe that the men were Guyanese.
Immersion in the ocean water for long periods can lead to skin lightening so the police are not ruling out the possibility that the men are Guyanese.
Persons who made the gruesome discovery told this newspaper the men, who were without footwear, appeared to be just over five feet tall. A fisherman told this newspaper that he bumped into the body on Saturday morning as he was going to check his seine. He had stated that he immediately turned back and alerted his son and a brother who had a closer look.
The man’s hands and feet were tied together in front, almost in a crouching position and his body was braced on a mangrove tree. He appeared to be “nicely dressed” in a pair of “grayish” shorts and cream-coloured t-shirt. A report was made to the Whim Police Station and ranks removed the body about one hour later and transported it to Ramoo’s Funeral Home at Port Mourant.
According to reports the owner of the funeral parlour refused the body, and complained that the police owed him a lot of money for similar cases. The body was then transported to a mortuary in New Amsterdam but it was again rejected because of its decomposing state and had to be returned to Ramoo’s.
Meanwhile, the other body was discovered on Thursday by a gardener. The body was on the shore in the vicinity of a fish pond.
The police were informed of the discovery. Initial reports stated that the body, which seemed to be swollen, was clad in a pair of ‘three-quarter’ light-coloured pants and a black sleeveless t-shirt and was found face-down. His hands and feet were bound together at the back. Part of the left foot below the knee appeared to have been bitten off.
There is speculation that the men may have been victims of a pirate attack or were tossed from a vessel.
