Scores of residents gathered outside the home of Bartica businessman Ricky Ramnarine last evening as the remains of two of his friends who were brutally slain during what may have been a robbery the night before, were removed by the police.
The dead men, both gold dealers, were identified as Ramdeo Deonarine, called Prakash, of Ruby, East Bank Essequibo and Jainarine Raghubar, of Fairfield, Essequibo Coast.
Reports are that they were last seen at a party at a venue known as ‘the Gardens‘ in the interior community sometime after midnight on Saturday. They reportedly left the scene for their home located a few corners away and, according to reports, were ambushed there.
Persons at the scene told this newspaper yesterday that the gold dealers, who would travel to ply their trade at Bartica, had huge sums of cash at the party on Saturday evening. It is believed that they were trailed to the house where they later met their demise.
At around 10 am yesterday, residents said, a young lady, said to be a relative of Deonarine,
visited the home and observed the grill door leading to the bottom flat of the house open. Moments after, she peered into the house and saw the men’s shirtless, bound bodies on the kitchen floor. An alarm was raised and scores of residents converged at the scene.
The two-storey house, which is well grilled, is equipped with CCTV cameras but they had been unserviceable recently. The building was cordoned off when Stabroek News visited the scene yesterday as a police vehicle with hazard lights on blocked traffic passing through Second Avenue.
Several dozen persons stood on the road and on fences bordering the home where the men were found as well as in nearby yards to get a glimpse of the men’s remains when they were removed by the police.
A hacksaw blade, which was used to saw the locks on the grill, was retrieved by the police at the scene early in the day and it is believed that the men were badly beaten due to lacerations observed on their bodies, an eyewitness noted.
Pictures of the men’s bodies when they were discovered and taken by eyewitnesses were being circulated as many speculated how the men may have met their demise. An undisclosed sum of cash as well as a quantity of jewellery was reported missing from the house.
Both men’s throats were slit and their hands tied behind their backs, a witness reported, and the men may have been killed sometime around 3 am yesterday as a neighbour observed them entering the yard around that time. They would usually occupy the building owned by Ramnarine whenever they travelled to the interior community, a resident said.
A police forensic team arrived at Bartica around 6 pm yesterday to carry out investigations and the bodies were left in the house until then. No one recalled seeing anyone leaving the home around the time the men were said to have been killed and it was noted that the boom boxes of several businesses in the community were blaring into the wee hours of yesterday morning which may have prevented anyone from hearing any noises.
The men’s remains were taken to the Bartica Hospital Mortuary and a post-mortem examination is expected to be performed on their bodies sometime this week.
Relatives were already preparing for a wake on the Essequibo Coast when this newspaper visited. Raghubar’s mother told this newspaper that they’d gotten word of his death but knew nothing about the circumstances. The woman explained that her daughter-in-law and other relatives had travelled to Bartica.
Raghubar’s relatives, who were in Bartica, were still in shock when approached by this newspaper. His wife recounted fond memories of her husband.
Meanwhile, when Stabroek News visited the Ruby home of Deonarine relatives were discussing the man’s death. His daughter, Mala, told this newspaper that she’d visited Bartica but had not been able to speak with Ramnarine or the police.
Ramnarine and her father, the distressed woman said, were friends. For more than a decade now, Mala explained, her father has been travelling to Bartica where he would buy and sell gold. Raghubar, according to her, was employed with Ramnarine.
“No, no, as far as I know my father did not have a problem with anybody. The last time I saw him was on Friday when he left to go to Bartica and he would spend a couple of days there…he would’ve normally come back out here like around Wednesday,” she said.
Mala further told this newspaper that she’d been told that police had arrested two men. However, Stabroek News was unable to confirm this. Efforts made to contact police officials at Bartica for a comment throughout yesterday were futile.
Ever since the Bartica massacre of February 17, 2008, the gateway to the mining community has been on edge over sporadic criminality.
Bartica is classified under the Police E&F Division. This division includes Administrative Regions 7, 8, 9. As of September 1 there were 14 murders reported in this division. Commander of the division David Ramnarine was also unavailable for comment.
