A 38-year-old East Coast Demerara (ECD) man has been missing for four days and his relatives fear the worst since he has received death threats because of his habitual stealing of fruits in the Ann’s Grove backdam.
Dexter Jimmy Kennedy of Lot 29 Kingston Street, Two Friends, ECD was last seen early on Tuesday morning before he was called away by a female resident of the village, who has since said that she knows nothing about the missing man.
Yesterday, his relatives started to mourn his death when they received news that his burnt body was discovered in the Clonbrook Burial Ground.
However, when his mother, Daphne Kennedy, and other relatives went to the location the report turned out to be false.
“A woman start fuh holler and say how she see fire in the burial ground and that Jimmy bun up,” Daphne Kennedy said. An aunt of the man said she started to holler after she heard the news and then it “turn out to be a wild rumour.”
The man’s relatives said they are convinced that he is dead and they are more worried that his body may never be found as it may have been disposed of way down in the backdam.
They said that the man, who was described as a labourer, never sleeps out and the last time he was seen he was wearing only boxer shorts and slippers. “He can’t go out of the village dress like dat,” his aunt said.
The man’s mother said she and some 30 villagers went into the backdam in search of the man but saw no signs of him. “We see plenty slippers, but none is nah he own,” she said. “We see a brown pants but is nah he own.”
She said the search party journeyed way down in the Ann’s Grove backdam crossing a trench in the process, but was eventually forced to turn back. The searchers encountered three men during their quest, but none of them had seen anyone like Kennedy in the backdam. The villagers may continue their search today and they hope that the police will join them.
According to one of the man’s aunts, last Tuesday the woman went to the house and called Kennedy and he left in her company.
“After I see he ent come back the night, I get worried because he don’t sleep out and we check at the police station the next day but he was not there so we report him missing,” the aunt said.
Relatives and Kennedy’s mother freely divulged that he was in the habit of stealing fruits from farms in the backdam. Kennedy has been jailed twice for praedial larceny. Once, his relatives said, he was tied up and beaten and was only set free after someone begged for him.
They alleged that the woman, who called him on Tuesday morning, is a fruit vendor in Bourda Market. They also said that she would get Kennedy to steal the fruits, which she would then sell. “I tell he already dat woman go put him in trouble,” his aunt said. “And whenever she see anyone of us she does send somebody to call him. She don’t come she self. I don’t know what influence she got over he but he does always go when she call him.”
They said that Kennedy has been threatened numerous times by famers for stealing fruits.
The relatives said they have since been told that on the day Kennedy disappeared, the woman was seen entering her yard in her undergarments.
“She does have to cross a trench to go to the backdam and like she don’t like come back home with she clothes wet suh she does tek off she clothes,” Kennedy’s aunt said. “I don’t know wah happen dat morning but like something happen dat morning… If something happen to them she shoulda come and tell we and we woulda try to see if we could get help,” the aunt said.
She said the next morning, which was Wednesday, the woman went to their home and asked for Kennedy. The aunt said she told her that she had to know his whereabouts as she was last seen with him. She said the woman left muttering that she had to go and look for him.
The woman has since been questioned by the police and she related that the last time she saw the man was at a party on Monday night last.
The man’s relatives are hoping that the police will continue questioning the woman and that she would reveal what she and Kennedy were up to on Tuesday morning.
Kennedy’s mother also revealed that her son had been incarcerated for threatening behaviour as he was in the habit of threatening his relatives “when he get vex.” The relatives are convinced that the man will never be seen alive again, but are hoping that his remains would be found.
