One of the men captured last week by police in connection with the Piari Landing robbery, has been identified as the mastermind in a previous robbery that occurred in the same area a few weeks prior.
Glendon Fredericks, who was robbed by three men at a shop in Piari Landing two weeks prior to last Sunday night’s vicious robbery, yesterday told Stabroek News that he recognized the injured bandit as the mastermind among the three who had committed the act. The man said that he knew the perpetrator from seeing around in the area. Previously, Fredericks had revealed that following attack he had recognized one of the suspects by his voice, after he had approached him and offered him condolences for what had transpired. Fredericks also told this newspaper that following the incident, the three suspects had disappeared from the landing.
Meanwhile, a post-mortem examination performed on the body of Aubrey Kingston has revealed the cause of death as drowning. The man’s close relatives also revealed that his body bore gunshot wounds, one to the left hand and another to his right foot.
Kingston, of 119 First Alley Hill Wismar, was one of the two persons whose bodies were discovered in the vicinity of Looking Glass Falls, following Sunday night’s attack.
According to Kingston’s aunt, who asked to remain anonymous, her nephew was found clad only in his underwear. The woman added that “it was obvious that they really beat him up badly,” pointing out that the marks found about his body, including the abdomen area testified to the fact that he had been beaten.
She also said that there were marks around his neck which suggested that attempts were made to strangle him. The aunt said relatives firmly believe that Kingston’s ability to effectively captain the boat and navigate the water was handicapped because he was tied. They related that three men, inclusive of Kingston, were held hostage but after the other two managed to make good their escape he was tied up and forced to pilot the boat.
Kingston’s relatives said they last saw him some time in May of this year, when he had returned home from the interior, and he was expected to return to Linden this week to attend to a pending court case. At the time of his demise, the 38-year-old boat hand and several others were before the court to answer to charges of possession of a quantity of marijuana, which had been found on a boat he was captain of. He was on $300,000 bail.
The relatives also divulged that some time before the incident the mother of his children had pleaded with him to return home, as “she wanted him to come and spend some time with her”. After a few days had elapsed and she did not hear from him, the woman was of the opinion that Kingston would probably pay her a surprise visit, “then she get a call telling her dat de body deh at de mortuary”.
Kingston, the fifth of eight children for his mother to have died, was interred yesterday.
The robbery occurred around 7 pm on Sunday, when a large gang of men armed with handguns stormed Piari Landing, at Puruni and wounded three Brazilians in the process. Millions of dollars were stolen in the raid.
According to the police, as the men approached, a number of shop owners and other persons fled into the bushes, but eight persons were robbed of cash, raw gold and jewellery, including the three who were shot and injured. The perpetrators, police said, attempted to escape in a boat that they had stolen from Piari Landing but while travelling along the Mazaruni River, it overturned.
Police Public Relations Officer, Ivelaw Whittaker, told Stabroek News yesterday that he has no recollection of any of the loot, in cash or jewellery, having been recovered since the incident.
The bodies of six men, five of whom are suspected to be bandits, were discovered by police in the vicinity of Looking Glass Falls in the Mazaruni River, afterward. Two of these bodies have since been identified by the police as Kingston, of Linden, who was a hostage; and a man who went by the name of Gregory Isaacs of Laing Avenue.
