Still in deep shock over his death, relatives of 34-year-old sailor Ronald Gomes, who was killed in the Bartica slaughter on Sunday night, are calling for justice to be done swiftly.
Gomes had been working with the boat, `Little Giant’, for just about three weeks when a gang of gunmen last Sunday night took over Bartica and in an hour-long rampage, murdered a dozen persons. Gomes was killed along with four other sailors. Reports stated that they were placed to lie face-down on the Transport and Harbours wharf at Bartica and then cold-bloodedly shot in the back of the head.
Earlier on the morning of that fateful day, Gomes had called his reputed wife of six years, Natasha Haynes, and had said that he would call back later in the night. The call never came and she learnt the devastating news the next day. Gomes would have been 35 years old next month and Haynes disclosed that they had spoken of plans to get married. They were also working on completing work on their home. She said that the father of her children had been home for Valentine’s Day, before he left to go to work early the next day and was supposed to have left Bartica on the night of the slaughter.
Seemingly lost in thought as she watched their two children, a four-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy play at their Kuru Kururu home yesterday, Haynes said that she still did not have all the details of how her husband met his death.
Meanwhile, Gomes’ brother, Carl recounted that as he looked at the cricket match on Sunday, he saw as the news that the Bartica Police Station was hit by gunmen being flashed across the screen. Aware that his brother was in the area he continued watching television to see if he could learn anything else. “I sat up until 1 am but I didn’t see anything else”, he stated. He learnt of the news the next day when a neighbour contacted him and told him that his brother had been shot and killed.
“I never believe that my brother life could have gone like that
