National footballer Neil Hernandez, who was preparing for the popular Kashif and Shangai tournament, was found dead after a blaze ravaged his Bartica home around midday yesterday.
His partially burnt body was removed from the ruins of the two-storey building by police in Bartica who are yet to determine exactly how the footballer died.
Police in Bartica questioned a few persons close to the footballer including his reputed wife, but Stabroek News was told that the information gathered so far was varied, particularly in relation to what happened in the hours prior to the fire at the house.
A post-mortem examination is expected to be performed tomorrow when the body is brought to the city. Hernandez’s relatives said the examination is critical since they have no idea how he died. Reports have been circulating that Hernandez set fire to his home, then took his own life following a bitter domestic row.
Hernandez who played with the Fruta Conquerors was highly respected in the sport and once led the national side. In Bartica where he grew up and continued to live despite playing for a city team, he was the footballer every young player wanted to be.
“Neil is the regular guy out there who had problems with his girlfriend but he was not suicidal. This behaviour is not Neil’s so we are shocked and concerned at the same time because something does not add up,” his sister Claudine Hernandez told Stabroek News last evening in a telephone interview.
According to her, the whole incident is strange and puzzling. She said the family received a disturbing phone call just before midday yesterday from her someone close to Hernandez who said that he was about to commit suicide. At the time, the family was travelling to Bartica from the city. She said the phone call ended abruptly so all the family could do was telephone someone in the area to go check on him.
Minutes later, there was another phone call. This time the person on the other end relayed that Hernandez had set the house on fire and shot himself in the head. Shortly after this phone call, another brother in the area went over to the home that Hernandez shared with his reputed wife and found the building in flames.
The police were immediately alerted according to her but since the fire was raging no one made any attempt to douse the blaze.
She said that while the fire raged, the brother recalled hearing a crashing sound and someone at the scene exclaimed that Hernandez had fallen through the flooring from the top floor. When the fire finally burnt out, the sister said, a quick inspection revealed that house had been empty, since there was no evidence of any burnt furniture or ashes from furniture. She said all that was found in the ruins was an empty gas cylinder.
Hernandez’s body was only partially burnt, she said, and they saw that he had what looked like a wound on his left side. She said the family noticed that he also had broken ribs. A cutlass was found nearby in the ruins.
The man’s sister said the family did not know forensics and only the post-mortem examination would determine what happened. However, she said too many things seemed out of place, including the peculiar behaviour of someone who was once close to Hernandez.
According to the sister, there seemed to be some history of domestic problems between her brother and his reputed wife. But despite this, she said, they lived good together and appeared to be a happy couple.
All his life, football had been the one thing he truly loved, the sister said, and he pursued it passionately. She said Hernandez loved the game and spent much time away from home playing for teams or for Guyana. She described him as someone never short on jokes and the one person in the family who knew how to make people laugh at the saddest of times.
Carlos Prowell, President of the Bartica Football Association remembered Hernandez, who he referred to as a good friend, as an amazing athlete. He said Hernandez took to the sport like fish to water and played at an exceptionally high level when he was focused. He said the country and Bartica have lost a good son.
Prowell said he could not make sense of what happened. He added that Hernandez still had high hopes for the game particularly as it related to the younger children in Bartica who all looked up to him.
“How do you reconcile with such a loss?” Troy Mendonca, President of the Georgetown Football Association asked last evening when contacted. He said Hernandez was a tremendous force in the sport and that he leaves a void.
He said many persons looked up to the young footballer as a role model, adding that Hernandez had been playing for some time now and had made the local game rich with his skills.
