A 22-year-old Stanleytown man was discovered dead outside his home early yesterday morning, with marks of violence about his body; his relatives believe he was murdered.
Dexter Alleyne of Church Street, Stanleytown, West Bank Demerara was last seen by his cousin at approximately 11 pm on Wednesday. Alleyne, relatives said, had been on his cellular phone at the time.
Police in a press statement issued yesterday afternoon said Alleyne’s body was found on the main road at Stanleytown around 7.30 am. Blood was oozing from the victim’s mouth, the police said.
Alleyne’s body was taken to the West Demerara Regional Hospital mortuary and police are awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination.
A woman who was on her way home from mass early yesterday morning found the man’s body at the side of the street.
When Stabroek News arrived at the scene shortly after 9 am yesterday, relatives were gathered in the yard while Alleyne’s body lay facedown in the mud just across the street. The police and funeral home attendants were already present but were awaiting the arrival of investigating officers before the body could be removed.
The deceased was clad in blue jeans, a black t-shirt and slippers. His face, just below the nose, was badly bruised and bloody. There was a small wound on the right side of his neck. Alleyne still clutched his cellular phone in his hand and, according to relatives, his money and other valuables were still on his person.
“I don’t know what happened,” Ruth Vanutan said. “He left for work yesterday [Wednesday] and that was the last time I saw my son.”
Vanutan told this newspaper that her son was employed with a construction company. Alleyne, she said, left home shortly after 6 am on Wednesday and never returned.
“He would normally return home by 10 pm,” the distressed mother explained. “His aunt passed by there to go to work early this morning, but she didn’t see him lying there because it was too dark.”
Relatives believe that Alleyne was murdered. Alleyne’s girlfriend was on the phone with him at the time he might have been attacked, they said. The girlfriend, an aunt explained, told them that she was on the phone with him around 11 pm, when she heard a female voice ask ‘Who is da boy?’ before the connection went dead.
Residents who live in the vicinity where the body was discovered did not report hearing any strange noises that night. However, there were many complaints about the lack of street lights in the area.
They described Alleyne as a peaceful and quiet young man. One man, who did not identify himself, said that Alleyne might have been attacked by members of a gang with whom he would be seen “liming”.
“Is he own friends dem kill he. Dese village feuds are terrible,” the man stated.
At 10 am the man’s body was finally removed and it was only then that Vanutan began to cry. Alleyne was the second of her three sons. Many residents crowded around the man’s body for a closer look but his family in their state of distress remained in their yard.
“This Christmas Eve he woulda turn 23,” Vanutan said. “He didn’t have any enemies… I don’t know what happened… I don’t know why,” she sobbed.
