-duo held after witnesses come forward
The body of Leroy Bobb was dumped on the Turkeyen Public Road, on the East Coast of Demerara by minibus operators after they ran him over in the city on Saturday.
A driver and conductor have since been taken into custody after eyewitnesses to the accident alerted police, who had been investigating the discovery of Bobb’s mangled remains. The body of Bobb, 70, of New Market Street, in the city, was found on Sunday morning and was later transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where it remained unidentified until the next day when relatives recognised it in a television newscast.
An eyewitness to the accident, who declined to be named, told Stabroek News that he also saw the newscast and recognised the clothes Bobb was wearing as belonging to those of a man who was hit at the corner of Wellington Street and North Road on Saturday evening.
Relatives had questioned the discovery of the body in Turkeyen, saying that as far as they knew he knew no one in that area. He usually spent his days at a location on Orange Walk and by early evening would make his way home.
From all indications the man was doing just that when he was struck by the bus as he was crossing the road. Bobb’s body had injuries to his head and his feet appeared to have been broken. An autopsy is expected to be performed on Friday.
The witness, who contacted Stabroek News yesterday, said that Bobb was knocked down in the city and he was shocked to learn that the bus driver and conductor picked up the man and dumped him in Turkeyen. Crime Chief Seelall Persaud confirmed that the police had received such reports and that the suspects in the incident were arrested. The Route 44 minibus, which operates from Plaisance to Georgetown, was also impounded.
The witness contacted the police and reported what he had seen but he did not wish to give a statement. He did, however, inform the force about where the accident had happened and that many other persons had witnessed the incident.
This newspaper understands that a man who was sitting outside of a shop at the corner where the accident happened witnessed the entire incident and has since given a statement to the police. Stabroek News has learnt that the driver and conductor have denied knocking down Bobb, though they did admit being involved in an accident with a man whose whereabouts they said is unknown to them.
However, Stabroek News was told that when the two were picked up and the bus impounded there was evidence that indicated attempts were made to wash blood stains from the vehicle.
‘Blue and
white shirt’
According to the witness, the accident occurred just after 6 pm. He said he was with a group of persons waiting to cross the road when he observed the elderly Bobb making an attempt to cross North Road. Bobb hesitated but then continued to cross at which point the bus hit him. “This mini bus was coming at a fast rate and it was overtaking another bus and that wasn’t supposed to be. This guy couldn’t do nothing. He continued crossing and he was hit and the bus drag he body a good way before it stopped,” the witness said.
He said he ran to where the bus stopped and he observed that the bus, which was white in colour with red stripes, had passengers. They soon exited and the driver and conductor came out and went to the injured man. The eye witness said he and others told them to take the injured man to the hospital. “To be honest they put the man in the bus and he looked limp. But I say they will take to the hospital so I didn’t bother to take the bus number. I would have never imagine that them man would take the man and dump he body,” the man added.
Words failed him when he recognised Bobb by the blue and white shirt he was wearing during a TV newscast. Bobb was also wearing a pair of Timberland boots at the time and this also assisted the eye witness in recognising him from the television report. He immediately contacted the police and gave them the information. He was, however, reluctant to give his name as he was not willing to go to court and testify. The man said he knew by alerting the lawmen they would find other eye witnesses who would give statements on record.
When Stabroek News visited the scene of the accident there was a long mark at the corner of the road which persons in the area said was the trail Bobb’s body left after being dragged by the minibus. A woman in the area said when she first heard the impact she thought a dog had been hit. It was only when she observed persons running to the scene of the accident that she realised it was a man who was knocked down.
While she did not see the accident, she did see the mini bus driver and conductor lifting the man by his shoulders, putting him to rest next to the bus. She said persons had to urge them to take the man to the hospital and when they left with the man persons were hoping that the man would have survived. “I think about it that night and I was hoping that he mek it but it look like he did done dead when dem put he in the bus,” the woman said.
The woman operates a business in the area and she said on Sunday and even Monday she was surprised that no police officer visited the area to conduct investigations. “I say the police woulda come and take marking and talk to people but none ain’t come until today,” the woman said. She said she was even telling a friend on Sunday that she hoped the man had pulled through but it was only on Monday she received some information that the man’s body was dumped. She said while she did not see the body on television from the clothes described to her she knew it was the man. “How dem could do duh to the man dem treat he worse than a dog,” the woman lamented yesterday. She said police visited the area yesterday and took statements and the man who witnessed the incident had gone down to the station to give one.
‘Angry’
Meanwhile, Bobb’s relatives were angry at the revelation that his body had been dumped after the accident. They feel that the man was on his way home when he was struck down, since he was never someone to stay out of his home. “We deh wondering how he end up till at Turkeyen because he ent know nobody there as far as we know and now we here this,” one of Bobb’s nieces said yesterday. The family had told Stabroek News on Monday that Bobb had told them he had seen an overseas-based friend on Friday night who had bought him some beers and had invited him back out on Saturday. They assumed that the man went to meet his friend and after his body was found at Turkeyen they felt maybe his friend was staying somewhere in that area. “But imagine me uncle was coming home and dem knock he down and den dump he body, who is dem boy?” one relative asked yesterday.
While they were speaking with Stabroek News, police visited the home with the two suspects in the vehicle and many relatives went to the car to get a glimpse of the man. “You dump me uncle body boy who is you all? You all couldn’t tek he to the hospital?” a niece asked the suspects while they were in the car. The men turned their faces when the question was posed to them.
The relatives are of the belief that when the men realised that Bobb had died they drove around with him in the minibus and probably waited until it was late in the night before discreetly dumping his body. They hope that the two men would be brought to justice.