Police are not yet aware that someone reportedly witnessed the stabbing of RK’s security guard Lennox O’Dean, a senior police source said on Thursday, and are encouraging the person to come forward.
O’Dean, also known as Lennox Hughes of Melanie Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara had just disembarked a route 40 minibus at Regent Street and Avenue of the Republic, Georgetown when he was reportedly stabbed in the neck by a man who then escaped in a waiting car.
The incident occurred at approximately 8.30 pm on Tuesday and it was not initially clear what had happened to O’Dean. Stabroek News has learnt from a police source that the man was discovered by a traffic rank, amid a crowd, bleeding at the location that night. O’Dean was rushed to the George-town Public Hospital (GPH) where he died while receiving medical attention.
Tuesday night’s fatal encounter, relatives told this newspaper on Wednesday, was the third such attack on O’Dean. The man was robbed and stabbed several times while walking along Regent and King streets about a month ago and two Fridays ago he was again attacked by two men on a bicycle at Regent and Wellington streets. The second attack was reported to the Brickdam Police Station.
The member of the public who summoned police to the scene on Tuesday night was the same person who reported to relatives that she saw a man stab O’Dean before escaping in a waiting car. When contacted, a senior police source told Stabroek News that they are not aware of the facts as stated by the alleged witness and are hoping that the person will come forward and speak to them.
“The last I was informed of this matter,” the police source said, “this man was found bleeding at the location by police. We know nothing about someone reportedly witnessing the deceased being stabbed.”
Police, the source said, can only do their investigation well and make progress if all information on the incident is made available to them. The force has not yet issued a statement regarding the matter.
Meanwhile, O’Dean’s relatives said that they have no way of contacting the member of public who passed on the information. O’Dean’s daughter explained that the woman was talking about the incident when she’d just arrived at the hospital on Tuesday night and, because of her state of distress, she was unable to absorb much and has no way of contacting the woman.
Loyal employee
Roshan Khan, proprietor of RK’s Security Service, has since offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of O’Dean’s “killer(s)”. Khan described O’Dean as a loyal employee with an “unblemished record”.
O’Dean, he explained, has been working with his company since 1996 and was attached to M. Beepat and Sons, a business place located on Regent Street. Khan indicated that relatives of the deceased will benefit from an insurance policy on O’Dean’s life.
A special insurance policy, which also covers unnatural and accidental death, provides coverage for RK employees, Khan explained, and stressed that relatives will be getting “something”.
O’Dean, according to Khan, was such a good employee that other firms often tried to “buy him over”, but the deceased was a principled man and remained faithful to RK’s. He is the third RK’s security guard to die under tragic circumstances this year.
Julian Edmond Embrack, a Visiting Inspector, was found dead on a road in the Diamond New Housing Scheme on April 24. In May police had reported that investigations into Embrack’s death had been completed and that while circumstantial evidence pointed to suicide, the file had been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice. The case was not closed and the police are still open to conducting further investigations. There has since been no word on the Embrack case.
On May 27, while on duty at Uncle Eddie’s Home, Tucville, Simone Coleridge, 43, was tied, gagged, beaten and then strangled allegedly by a group of men who broke and entered the home, stealing several items. Two men have since been charged with Coleridge’s murder.
The fact that O’Dean, Coleridge and Embrack have met such tragic ends within months of each other is just a coincidence, Khan said.
“You have to remember that RK is the largest security firm in the country and we employ more than 1000 persons,” Khan said, “so therefore we would have more employees at risk of having such things happen. I don’t believe they were targeted it is just a coincidence…something like this has never happened to the firm in all its 30 years though.”