A team of policemen from Bartica were yesterday sent to Puruni Landing, in the Mazaruni River, following the murder of a miner on Monday.
Divisional Commander Colin West told Stabroek News yesterday afternoon that the suspect in Monday’s murder of Rawle Peters, 23, had not yet been arrested. This newspaper was told by a police source that ranks embarked on a seven-hour journey to the murder scene sometime yesterday morning and they are not expected to return until today. The suspect, according to reports, had been spotted in the Puruni area but it is unclear if public-spirited citizens have made any attempts to capture him.
The area where the incident occurred is remote and is plagued by poor security and inadequate communication equipment.
Peters, called ‘Papaw’ and ‘Dumb Boy,’ of Lot 21 North Haslington, East Coast Demerara, succumbed on the Puruni trail while as efforts were being made to transport him to the Bartica Hospital. He sustained a huge gash to his left side which left his guts protruding following an early morning attack.
Relatives of the dead man had reported to this newspaper that Peters had been threatened during a fight some time ago and they expressed belief that the attack stemmed from the old misunderstanding.
For this year, there have been 16 murders in the E&F Division (Linden and interior locations), with several occurring in the Mazaruni/Cuyuni area within the last two to three weeks.
Police Commissioner Henry Greene last week said that there have been 97 murders this year in comparison with 77 last year and of this figure there were 32 disorderly murders reported. Fourteen of these murders, he said, occurred in the interior (E&F Division). He had gone on to explain that most of the murders were fuelled by people drinking or arguing and then stabbing or beating each other.