A burglar who was allegedly found standing near the open back door of a Mandela Avenue residence was killed early yesterday morning by an occupant of the house who repeatedly struck him on the head with a piece of wood.
Up to press time last night the man was unidentified. Police said in a press release yesterday that they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of an unidentified male who was found in a yard around 0130 hours at Mandela Avenue, with injuries about the body.
The man was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
According to the release the deceased is of African descent and appears to be in his mid-thirties, is slim built, brown in complexion, barefoot and clad in a red jersey and ¾ camouflage pants.
The body is at the Georgetown Hospital morgue awaiting identification and a post mortem examination.
A senior police official explained to Stabroek News that an occupant of Lot 759 Mandela Avenue woke up to find a man standing at his back door which had already been opened, with a crow bar in hand.
It is unclear what happened next but according to the official, the occupant of the house began lashing the burglar in his head with a piece of wood.
Stabroek News was told that the man has been detained for questioning but it is unclear if he was still in custody at press time.
When this newspaper visited the location where the incident took place, the house was locked. A neighbour said that she would have been asleep at that time and did not know about anyone at that house or in the area being beaten during the course of the night.
The woman said that at no time did she see police at the house or even in the area.
Another resident who also said she heard nothing stated that the family that lived there had migrated and she would usually see a man who rides a motor cycle at the house.
Last July, a burglar identified as Kurt Meyers was beaten to death after breaking into a house at Good Hope, East Coast Demerara.
Several occupants of the house and persons had been held in connection with the incident but were released owning to lack of evidence. Though many senior police officers had reprimanded residents for the vigilante-style killing, charges were never laid against anyone.
Police had said in a press release at the time that around 3.35 am, Mahendra Persaud, 32, of Good Hope reported that he had caught a man who was in the process of stealing from his house. Ranks responded and upon arrival at the address found Mayers in “a naked condition on the ground with his hands and feet tied and marks of violence about his body.” A bag containing a quantity of jewellery, a cell phone and torchlight, which Persaud said was found in Mayers’ possession, was handed over to them.
The injured Mayers, who was slipping in and out of consciousness, was taken to the Georgetown Hospital and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit under guard. The injured man managed to tell investigators and hospital officials his name, age (30) and address, before he died.
Mayers sustained severe head injuries and multiple fractures to his body during the incident. Later that day the Persaud brothers, two cousins and Singh were detained at the Vigilance Police Station. Moments before he died, Mayers had given his address at Better Hope. However no one in the area knew him and relatives never came forward to claim his body, and as such the body was buried.
Investigators concluded that the man had provided a false name and address.
