What is the real motive behind Leriea Bristol’s well-planned execution-style killing? Police say that they are exploring two leads but some relatives remain adamant that a man, who was once in the businesswoman’s life, was in some way involved.
Approaching three weeks since the murder, the police have failed to come up with something concrete or find credible leads.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said recently that the man (the relatives suspect) did make himself available to the police and following some questioning he was released. Persaud explained that at the time of the ‘hit’, the man was overseas but on his return home, he went to the police.
Initially, a senior police official had told this newspaper that the ranks were looking for the man but could not find him at his East Bank Demerara home. He had reportedly left the country one week before the August 4 killing.
Persaud told this newspaper that the police were pursuing two lines of inquiry. The first being a recent event in Leriea’s personal life that led to some disputes.
The second area of investigation is a property dispute that was before the court in which Bristol had to give evidence.
According to the Crime Chief these two areas are being investigated since they have been identified as recent conflicts in the life of the Well Road, North Ruimveldt resident before she was killed.
When Stabroek News contacted the woman’s niece, Shumain Archer she said that the family was not interested in speaking to the media about the matter at this moment.
Bristol’s store which is located on Robb Street between King and Wellington remains closed.
According to the reports gathered so far, around 21:05, Bristol, was about to open her gate so that she could drive her car into the yard when a lone gunman walked up and shot her in the head. The bullet pierced her left ear before entering her skull. She would have died instantly. The gunman calmly walked back to a dark-coloured motorcycle driven by an accomplice. The two then sped onto an adjoining street and disappeared into the darkness.
The killers had apparently been staking out the woman for some time and residents recalled seeing a motor cycle parked near the business woman’s home, the night before she was killed.
The darkness of the area may hamper investigations greatly. Following the incident residents called for street lights stressing that the street has always been a haven for armed robbers who pounced especially on taxi drivers.
Police nearby heard the gunshots but by the time they arrived at the scene the perpetrators were long gone. They however recovered two spent shells from the scene.
‘Hits’
Persaud said that Bristol’s killing was a hit and there were three other cases this year that share this characteristic. This was his response when asked if the upsurge in this type of murder was a concern to the Force.
He listed the other victims of ‘hits’ as Nicholas Hoyte who was gunned down outside an Alberttown shop on January 12; Vibert Weekes a defendant in an attempted murder case who was riddled with bullets on Robb Street on January 8 and the April execution of saltfish exporter Rajendra Motilall Sonilall at Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara.
Though, Persaud insisted that there were four ‘hits’ for the year, Stabroek News’ records indicate that there are at least three more that share similar characteristics. These are the gunning down of businessman Terry Bacchus who was shot once by a gunman who then escaped with another accomplice, outside his Water Street store; the murder of IPA employee Sidwell Dexter Collins in May and Bibi Saymar, whose husband allegedly hired a ‘hitman’ to kill her.
Saymar’s husband, Denis Persaud and alleged killer Troy Greene have since been charged with murder.
Persaud when previously questioned about Bacchus had said that it was too early to classify that case. In commenting about Collins he had told this newspaper that the killing could have been the settling of an old debt. The investigations into these killings are still open.
When quizzed on the difficulties in investigating ‘hits’, Persaud stressed that in the past persons were arrested and charged.
