Police know the identity of the prime suspect in the killing of GTM manager and actor Lionel Bert Whyte, but so far numerous checks for him and Whyte’s missing car have turned up nothing, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said.
When contacted yesterday Persaud was not prepared to release too many details, since the investigations is an active one but said that police know what the suspect looks like. Up to late yesterday afternoon when this newspaper spoke to the crime chief, the man had not been arrested.
Persaud said the suspect is associated with Whyte and shortly before Whyte was found with stab wounds, the two were seen in a car in the vicinity of Queen and Bentinck streets. An official at the popular Main Street night spot outside of which Whyte collapsed had told this newspaper that Whyte was seen running out of Hope Street.
However, Persaud said, an eyewitness had placed the wounded man and his companion in the vicinity of Queen and Bentinck streets. Bentinck Street runs parallel to Hope Street and they are bisected by Main Street and Queen Street.
He said the information is that the suspect, who lives outside the city, was driving the car; Whyte was the passenger. Persaud said when Whyte collapsed in front of the night spot the man who assisted him asked if he had been robbed, but Whyte said no, he was stabbed.
Meanwhile, Persaud said that the man’s motor car PKK 8566 remains missing. Asked what moves police made to find the car after learning of the stabbing, the crime chief said that investigators did not know about the car until the following day. He said up to that point all the information they had was that a man was stabbed.
Based on the timeline given to this newspaper, Whyte, 45, of 79 Phoenix Park, West Bank Demerara left his Robb and Hincks streets office some time after 6 pm on Monday in his car. Around 8 pm, he collapsed in front of the nightspot five corners from his workplace.
Persons in the area where he was found said they had never seen him there before.
Police Commissioner (ag) Leroy Brumell had said that from all indications “it is not robbery” since Whyte’s money and a gold ring were intact when he collapsed on Main Street.
An eyewitness told police that he was passing when he noticed two persons in the car fighting and saw a man who was later identified as Whyte jump out of the car and begin running. When he collapsed, the witness said, the man began hollering for help. The attacker who was in the driver’s seat, according to the eyewitness, then drove off.
The eyewitness was detained on Tuesday after he was heard relating what he had seen to another man. The other man was also detained. They were released after a few hours.
A post-mortem examination (PME) gave the cause of death as perforation of the heart and lungs due to stab wounds. The PME was performed by Government Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh.
