By Zoisa Fraser
A hearing-impaired elderly remigrant was bound and smothered to death with a pillow by bandits who carted off several household appliances in a brazen episode that yesterday left the East Bank Demerara community of Peter’s Hall in shock.
Ishwar Mithu, 65, was found dead in his Lot 73 Peter’s Hall home where he had been living alone. The man, who returned home from the United States three years ago after retiring, was found on his bed in his room on the upper flat of the two-storey building with his hands and feet bound. The pillow that was apparently used to suffocate him lay nearby and there was a small amount of blood on it.
Police in a press release said that Mithu was found around 3 pm by his son with his hands tied behind his back and his feet bound with pieces of cloth. The house, the release added, was ransacked and several household items were missing.
When Stabroek News arrived, a large crowd had gathered in front of the house as police ranks scoured inside and the immediate area for clues. A man on a bicycle and a frail-looking woman were later whisked away from the scene for questioning.
- Ishwar Mithu’s ransacked bedroom. His lifeless body was found on his bed with his hands and feet bound.
As the man’s remains were being placed in a Lyken’s Funeral Home hearse tears flowed openly as relatives and residents expressed disbelief that he could have been killed in such a manner.
From all appearances, several persons were involved and there are suspicions that the perpetrators escaped with their booty via a boat that was near a koker a short distance away, after killing Mithu. Two openings were evident in the zinc fence behind Mithu’s house leading investigators to believe that these were the bandits’ entry and exit points. The grass leading to these openings was also flattened indicating that someone had recently walked there.
No one in the immediate area recalled seeing anything suspicious between Tuesday night and yesterday.
The perpetrators cut the grillwork away from a kitchen window and removed louvres; at least one of them would have then gained access to the bottom flat of the house. A nearby back door was opened through which the others possibly entered.
- Bandits removed louvre panes from this window and cut the grillwork to get into Ishwar Mithu’s house. He was later suffocated and several household items removed from the home.
Relatives said Mithu would usually remove the hearing aid he uses when he retired to bed at nights and he would lock his bedroom door. They said the man would not have known that intruders were in his home until it was too late. The bedroom door was kicked in.
The bandits tumbled the man’s bedroom looking for valuables, leaving clothing and documents strewn all over.
The dead man’s brother-in-law Anand Persaud told Stabroek News that a television set, a microwave, a washing machine, a DVD player, a brush cutter and a five-disc stereo set were discovered to be missing.
He recalled that on Tuesday morning, the man was at his home and was in his usual high spirits. Persaud was adamant that Mithu could not have heard the bandits because he was not wearing his earpiece. It was found on a ledge beside the bed.
He explained that a resident of the area was the first to notice the cut grill and that six louvre panes from a window on the northern side of the house were missing.
The dead man’s son was immediately informed and when he entered the home, Persaud said, the back door was open and he later made the gruesome discovery.
- One of the openings through which the bandits entered.
The man said there is a sea dam behind the house and that was likely the bandits’ escape route.
He told Stabroek News that Mithu had lived in the USA for some 35 years before returning here about three years ago and had been living alone since. Persaud said that while he never expressed any fears for his safety during those years, relatives were concerned about the many persons he would entertain at the home. Mithu was described as a very friendly person.
Meanwhile, Mithu’s maid recalled last seeing him around 9 am on Tuesday when he went to her home (located a short distance from his) and told her “I am happy today”. As she was speaking to this newspaper the woman burst into tears. The woman (who did not want her name published) like relatives, said the man never expressed any fear of living alone.
“He always used to say that de house grill up and no one can’t come in pon meh,” the grieving woman who has been employed with Mithu for the last three years said.
Residents said yesterday that crimes, even petty ones were non-existent in their community.