– according to SN records
Knife-related crimes are up this year, accounting for eight murders at the end of February.
According to Stabroek News’ records, 21 murders have occurred in the first 59 days of the year and knife-related killings are on par with those committed with firearms. In previous years, gun-related killings predominated.
So far this year, the police are still battling to solve two execution-style killings and several armed robberies that have ended in murder. While some progress has been made in some of the cases, more than half remain unsolved. There were 15 murders in January and six in February.
The Guyana Police Force recorded its first murder on January 4 when Bascal Johnson of 420 East Ruimveldt died one day after he was shot in the head while on Laing Avenue.
The 44-year-old man was standing in an abandoned lot some time around 8.30 pm with a woman. He was reportedly shot just above the right eye by an unknown assailant. Following the shooting he was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital by police and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), but hours later he succumbed.
The woman he was with at the time of the shooting was held but subsequently released.
Johnson’s relatives had expressed the view that the woman was the key to solving the murder and had called on the police to act more efficiently.
To date there has been no word from police on the investigations.
Four days later on January 8, waitress Kulmattie Singh was shot dead when gunmen invaded Safraz Bar located at Lamaha Street, Kitty, and began robbing patrons. During the ordeal, an Australian man was seriously wounded and after spending over a month in hospital he returned to his homeland for further medical treatment.
Several persons were arrested but later released. Police subsequently linked the attack to the execution-style murder of Nicholas Hoyte and the fatal shooting of businessman Davendra Bholanauth during an armed robbery at his Sheriff Street taxi service. The same calibre of spent shells were recovered from the three scenes. A special team was set up to investigate these cases but no suspects have been positively identified.
Hours later Vibert Weekes who had been charged with the attempted murder of the Fish Shop owner was killed on Robb Street.
Weekes, 28, of North/East La Penitence Georgetown, was approached by a lone gunman around midnight outside a business place and riddled with bullets. According to the police he had just exited his vehicle when he was confronted by the gunman who discharged a number of rounds which struck his body. The gunman escaped after the shooting. Weekes was later pronounced dead on arrival at the Woodlands Hospital. Police said that they were looking at all possible angles but have so far been unable to come up with anything substantial.
Two days later the bloody body of trainee teacher, Luciana Bhagwandin, was found on a dam in Harlem, West Coast Demerara. The body had multiple stab wounds and days later the police issued a wanted bulletin for Jerry Jhagroo, a recent boyfriend who drives a black car.
The woman had left the home on the afternoon of January 9 to visit a supermarket in the area when she was reportedly pulled into a car by someone. A cousin was with her at the time and as a result a report was promptly made to the Turkeyen Police Outpost. There are reports that she was threatened by a man who wanted to have a relationship with her.
On January 12, an unknown gunmen pumped bullets into Hoyte, 29 as he sat in his car outside a shop at Light and Sixth Street, Alberttown on the evening of January 12. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Hospital a short while later.
So far, investigators have been unable to come up with a motive for the killing of the former
Alberttown resident. Security cameras at the entrance of a building in the vicinity did not yield any incriminating footage and police have been unable to find the car which transported the gunman.
Domestic killing
Sunita August became the year’s first domestic related killing after she was apparently beaten to death by her husband before her body was dumped in a koker at Nismes, West Bank Demerara on January 13.
After killing the mother of three, Ramesh Muniram reportedly confessed and told relatives that he had consumed poison before fleeing into the bushes behind his mother’s house at La Grange.
Police combed the area but were unable to locate him. Muniram however turned up at the police station the following day in the company of a relative.
From the reports reaching Stabroek News, the woman left her home on the morning of her death to meet Muniram, from whom she had separated after a dispute, to collect money for two of her children whom he had fathered. Persons living close to the dam that leads to the koker at Nismes recalled seeing August being reluctantly led to the area by the suspect the day before the murder.
The following day residents said they saw Muniram towing his wife on a bicycle, heading in the direction of the koker. He was seen leaving the area alone some time later.
Muniram was later charged with murder.
The killing of Llewelyn Fitzgerald Campbell called Elton, who was left on the Kingston Seawall with his throat slashed, remains baffling. He was also hit on his head with a blunt object.
It was a passer-by who stumbled upon the man’s remains on January 18, which were slumped against a coconut tree.
He had told his friends in Bourda Market that he was going to visit someone living on the seawall, but no one knew who it was.
The reason behind the stabbing and chopping to death of Nalini Bhoje in her Skeldon home on January 25 is still a mystery to her relatives and the police. The perpetrators left a quantity of jewellery behind after choking and stabbing the woman, but took a pouch containing documents.
The woman was found by her husband who had left her home alone to drop off their two daughters at a school in the area. A bloodstained cutlass and an ice pick were recovered in the house.
No one reported seeing anything usual prior to the discovery of the body. Several suspects were arrested and then released.
Later that same day, three month old Alvin Felix died after his mentally ill mother threw him into a canal at Weldaad, West Coast Berbice. Despite her condition police charged Alexis Felix with murder.
Miscellaneous
Two days after he was shot in the chest on January 27 while resisting armed robbers at his Ezee Runnings taxi service, Davenda Bholanauth succumbed.
According to reports, the businessman was seated alongside the dispatcher when the men entered. They were acting suspiciously. The dispatcher reportedly inquired whether they were interested in credit for their mobiles, while Bholanauth was occupied on his laptop computer. The men ignored the dispatcher, pushed him aside and approached Bholanauth.
From accounts, Bholanauth resisted the men when they attempted to take his laptop and the gold jewellery he was wearing but was shot during the commotion. The men later fled with the valuables.
Burnt remains believed to be those of missing taxi driver Bomeshwar Sukhdeo were found in Mocha on January 27, days after his car was discovered at the Herstelling home of a spray painter.
Two men, Balram Singh, a taxi driver of Agricola, and Bharrat Narine, a taxi service owner of 303 Grove Housing Scheme have been charged with murder, although the remains have not been positively identified.
Sukhdeo disappeared on January 19 without a trace, following which his relatives launched several searches but came up empty handed.
An ongoing family feud ended in murder when Maxwell Watson was stabbed to dead by relatives at Little Abary, East Coast Demerara.
Satnarine Jaikarran along with his nephews Randy and Neville Crawford have since been charged.
Meanwhile on January 29, Dhanpaul was shot dead by a teenager on a Corentyne poultry farm where he was employed as a security guard. The teen has since been charged.
Three days later on January 31, Sophia resident Kwesi D’Andre a suspected thief was shot dead by a MMC security guard who has since been charged.
On February 5, the Georgetown Prisons was the scene of a deadly brawl during which, Solomon Blackman a mentally ill inmate was battered to death by infuriated prisoners in the capital offences dorm moments after he fatally stabbed fellow inmate Dewan Singh. Blackman, a double murder accused, had been deemed insane by the prison’s psychiatrist but was returned to the general prison population after he showed signs of improvement following medical treatment.
Because of the large number of persons who were in the dorm at the time, police have been unable to identify who delivered the fatal blow that killed Blackman. Police officials have since said that investigations are continuing into the matter.
Nine days later, a 24-year-old Sophia man was fatally stabbed during a confrontation over a missing cellular phone.
Gregory `Micey’ Stuart 24, of Lot 571 South Sophia was reportedly involved in an argument over a missing cellular phone with a man shortly before he was stabbed. The incident occurred some time before 9 pm at the Stabroek Market area where the South minibus park is located.
His killers are still at large.
The following day, HIV counsellor Seeraj Persaud was discovered dead in his office at the Parika Health Centre.
Persons had recalled see a “tall, well built” man leaving his office before the discovery was made but police were unable to find the person.
Persaud was manually strangled and was also hit on his head. Investigations are continuing.
On February 24, Brazilian Leandro Torres De Lima was shot in the face by his fellow countryman following a row over money in the Butterfly Backdam, Port Kaituma. The gunman is still on the run and there are suspicions that he may have fled the country.
Later that day, 64 year old hearing impaired remigrant Ishwar Mithu was found bound in his Peter’s Hall home.
He had been smothered to death with a pillow and the perpetrators had carted off several household items including a washing machine, television and microwave after ransacking the house.
They gained entry by cutting the grillwork that was on a kitchen window.
The man would not have heard anything since he was not wearing his hearing aid. Police were looking for two former tenants who had been evicted weeks before.
This newspaper confirmed that one had been held but was released.
