An East Bank Demerara businessman was yesterday found dead in Le Repentir Cemetery with two gunshot wounds to the back shortly after his car was discovered abandoned in Sophia, leaving his relatives shocked and baffled as to the reason behind his murder.
Dead is Carlos Persaud, a 32-year-old trucking contractor and shop owner of Lot 6 Rams Canefield Drive, Friendship.
Police said in a release that around 09:00 hours Persaud’s body was discovered in the cemetery with “suspected bullet wounds to the upper back”.
This newspaper understands that it was an anonymous phone call that led investigators to the body.
According to the release, the man’s car, PMM 2625 was earlier found abandoned by the police at `C’ Field, Sophia, following reports made by residents in the area.
The body is at the Lyken’s Funeral Home awaiting a post-mortem examination as police continue their investigations into this latest killing.
A senior police official told Stabroek News that at the moment investigators have found no motive, explaining that the family hasn’t provided any information to that effect and that the car was intact when it was found.
The official further said that Persaud’s body bore two gunshot wounds to the back when he was found.
From all appearances, the killer/s took the man into the cemetery some time between last Friday night and the wee hours of yesterday. Persaud might have attempted to run away resulting in him being shot in the back. It is believed that after he was killed, the man’s car was driven to Sophia.
Persaud’s wife, Anita, was inconsolable and was unable to speak with this newspaper when she was contacted last evening.
Earlier when this newspaper visited the Friendship home, the distraught woman was in the city giving statements to the police.
Based on the accounts of relatives, Persaud left home in his car around 15:30 hours on Friday to purchase dog food along with beverages and other stocks for his shop somewhere in the city. However, he failed to return home that night.
According to a relative, a worried Anita went to the police yesterday morning and some time later, police called and informed her that Persaud’s body was found.
Relatives said they didn’t know the reason for the killing. Persaud, they said, owned several trucks and would work along with contractors.
At the Brickdam Police Station, the woman was being consoled by relatives as they awaited the arrival of crime scene experts to examine the man dark blue car.
Up to press time it was not clear if anything, including the cash that Persaud left with to the buy stocks, was missing.
In the past persons were shot dead and their bodies left in Le Repentir Cemetery which is overrun with bushes and tall trees. Among them was 18-year-old Dave Hescott whose bullet-riddled body was discovered amidst metal behind the furnace in Le Repentir Cemetery several years ago.
The young man had a gunshot wound and a stab wound to the back of his head and was lying face down when he was found.
