The decomposed body of a man with bullet wounds, believed to be the one the police were pursuing last Wednesday, was yesterday morning found by two brothers in a trench that borders North Ruimveldt and Lamaha Park.
Police sources on the scene yesterday said that a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) identification card indicated that the body was that of Private Wilford Heyligar. Last night, the army issued a statement saying that the identification card was issued to Private Heyligar while he was a member of the Second Infantry Battalion Reserve. “The Reservist was not enlisted as a regular soldier but was, however, disembodied from the said Unit in 2008”, the GDF stated.
Though the body is yet to be positively identified, it appears to be that of Heyligar based on his movements as described by relatives. He has also not been seen since the incident.
Stabroek News understands that the body, which was bloated, bore a gunshot wound to the jaw and one to the hip. Last Wednesday morning the police had discharged a volley in a desperate bid to capture a man who was said to have shot at them and it was believed that the man escaped into Lamaha Park.
However, from all indications while the man may have been attempting to escape into Lamaha Park he succumbed as he attempted to cross the trench and his body remained there ever since.
Stabroek News spoke to some relatives in the area where the man had reportedly stayed for a few months before he was asked to leave “because he get involve with some people in the area”. According to a man, who said he was Heyligar’s uncle-in-law, he told him that he could not remain at his address if he continued with certain behaviour. The man moved out but they would see him from time to time in the area.
When contact was made with Heyligar’s mother, who gave her name as Colleen, she said the last time she saw her 19-year-old son was last month.
As far as she knows her youngest child was staying with a family friend in Den Amstel on the West Demerara. She said that last Wednesday the friend called her and told her that a friend of the young man visited them and borrowed some jewellery from him but later invited Heyligar to travel to Berbice with him.
“She said since then she called he cell phone and it going straight to voice mail,” the woman said. Yesterday morning the Den Amstel friend called her and told her that one of her son’s friends contacted her and told her that Heyligar’s body might have been found.
According to Heyligar’s mother her son had joined the army but she was a bit hazy as to whether he was still a member.
“He went in the army but when he come home they didn’t send back for him,” she told Stabroek News. And while she said her son was working while staying at Den Amstel she could not say what work he did.
The woman said she was suffering from a number of medical complications and was unable to travel to Georgetown to identify her son’s body.
And attempts to have the family friend identify the body proved futile as the woman upon hearing that the young man had died took ill and is now said to be hospitalised.
Relatives said they would travel to the city today to identify the body.
Scores of policemen converged on the scene where the body was found early yesterday morning but it was not removed until after lunch because of its location. Several persons in the area also gathered nearby and remained there until the body was removed in the hope of catching a glimpse of it.
According to one of the boys who found the body, he had noticed it since Friday in the trench but initially thought it was a dog. The child’s father has a farm on the land between the two trenches that separate North Ruimveldt and Lamaha Park and he said it was yesterday when he and his brother were walking on the farm that they realised that it was the body of a human.
He said the body, which was clad in a red jersey, had been attacked by two dogs as it was close to land. The lad said the man’s face was not recognisable.
Last Wednesday the police said the man dropped his .45 pistol and several rounds during the commotion. There has been no official word from the police as to what the man was wanted for but minutes before the incident ranks had converged on a house at Cul-de-Sac Street and after conducting a search found him at the back of the yard. On seeing the police he reportedly discharged two rounds at them before dropping his weapon and fleeing
Three young women including one with a baby and two boys were taken into custody for questioning. Yesterday when Stabroek News approached persons at the address they refused to comment.
And even as the police were investigating yesterday’s find, some of the ranks on the scene were also seen running after a man who had turned up on the scene. Reports are that the man may have been the one the police wanted on Thursday but even as the police were discussing how to corner the man some persons on the scene quickly alerted the man and he hastily escaped.
Ranks on foot, one on a borrowed cycle and some in a vehicle gave chase with scores of residents behind and some even in front of them but the man had already made good his escape.