Almost a month after a Cuban man was hacked to death and his wife severely injured allegedly at the hands of a Guyanese scholarship student, charges are yet to be laid and the suspect remains in police custody.
Shurlon Austin, originally of Hamilton Road, Pattensen, South Sophia, is accused of murdering a man and slitting a woman’s throat during an argument over a watch on April 27.
Public Service Minister Jennifer Westford told Stabroek News yesterday that she has heard of no new developments in the matter but can only say that the investigation is still being carried out by the Cuban authorities. She further denied reports that the accused had appeared in court.
Meanwhile, sources have since indicated to this newspaper that the woman has been discharged from the Havana hospital where she was previously kept under guard.
Austin left Guyana in 2006 at the age of 24 and was scheduled to complete the Cuba-leg of his studies over the next few months. Thereafter, he would have returned to Guyana to complete his final year of studies before graduation.
Sources had said that he went to a shop in Havana to buy a watch and while there he reportedly got into an argument with the owner of the store, which saw the man’s wife intervening. It is alleged that Austin stabbed the man at least 11 times before turning his knife on the woman.
