Miner Richard Melvin Titus was fatally stabbed outside a shop in the North West District (NWD), following an argument with another man.
Titus, called “Cookie” and “One Knottie,” of Second Street, Alberttown, Georgetown was discovered wounded at Five Star backdam, NWD. Public-spirited citizens made immediate efforts to get Titus medical attention but he died before his arrival at the Port Kaituma Hospital.
Titus, 30, is the third man to be murdered in the NWD in recent weeks. Dredge owner Andy Whyte was stabbed to death and later found dead along a trail in Massawini and on Tuesday fish vendor Lawrence Martindale was fatally stabbed at the Port Kaituma Water Front.
Hodiaha Burke, Titus’ wife, told Stabroek News yesterday that she was told that her husband and another man were involved in an argument at a shop. Following the argument, the man reportedly stabbed Titus outside the shop and subsequently fled the scene. Police, Burke told this newspaper, were unable to arrest the perpetrator.
Titus, according to her, left for the NWD in January. The woman said she spoke to her husband via telephone less than a week ago. “He didn’t say anything about having a problem with anyone… he was a private person. He just asked how I was doing and so,” Burke said.
Titus was planning to return to Georgetown next month, Burke said. He would have celebrated his 31st birthday on April 15 and he was making plans with his family for a celebration at their Alberttown home.
Titus’ sister, Camille Thompson, said that he worked in the NWD for most of his life as a miner. The woman said that she last spoke with him in February. “Then next thing you hear yesterday [Wednesday] we get the call saying that someone stab him up,” she added.
After receiving news of Titus’ death, Thompson said she and other relatives went to the Criminal Investigation Department at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, where investigators said that they had received a report about a suspected murder but did not have many details on the matter. The woman said that on Wednesday police told them that they had sent two investigators to the location but were yet to get any feedback. “They told us the usual thing you know and then said that they would call but they never called we had to keep calling them,” Thompson said.
Another relative told Stabroek News that they do not appreciate how police have been treating them. The man said that they are entitled to know what had happened to Titus, being his relatives. The two investigators who were sent to the location, he further said, have since returned to Georgetown without much information about what happened.
The man said that Titus had been working with a dredge owner in the Five Star backdam area and that his employer has since taken on the responsibility of getting his body to the city. The body, according to him, will be flown out from Port Kaituma today. “We just want justice… the man who kill Richard still deh loose somewhere and we want the police to do what they got to do to find him,” he said. “Richard was a good, jovial boy but he was Mr. No-nonsense. He was a very straight up man and the man who kill he can’t get away like this.”
In a press release issued yesterday afternoon, police said that they were investigating the circumstances surrounding Titus’ death. A team of investigators, police said, has been dispatched to the area.
