Ramcharran ‘Dave-Boy’ Samaroo, the man who was on duty as a watchman with Narotam Holodar, when he was strangled at the KRS Construction Co construction site on Tuesday evening was detained by police.
Holodar, known as ‘Breads’, 54, of Lot 540 Cinema Street, Diamond, East Bank Demerara was later pronounced dead on arrival at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre on Wednesday around 2am. He was hours before beaten, tied, and strangled allegedly by four intruders who escaped with some heavy-duty machinery from the site.
Stabroek News yesterday spoke to Sita Samaroo, the wife of the second watchman, who said her husband managed to escape after the perpetrators fled the scene. On Wednesday, she said, he was taken to the Grove Police Station for questioning and she had believed that he would have returned home. However, her husband was held overnight and she was only notified after visiting the Diamond Police Station yesterday morning.
Mrs Samaroo said her husband was released for a few hours yesterday but he was instructed to return to the station at 2:30pm and he complied. She noted that the owner of the man’s employer was expected to visit the police station for questioning as well but failed to do so. “The boss man was supposed to go at the station but he didn’t show up. My husband call he today (Thursday) and he said that he was busy but he will try to go today (yesterday),” she related.
When asked for further information about the employer, the woman explained that her husband is only a temporary worker and that she was not very familiar with the man. She noted that her husband works full-time on a trawler.
According to Mrs Samaroo, her husband told her that on the night of the murder, he and Holodar were on duty at the New Hope, East Bank Demerara site, when the men invaded the premises. She said their hands, mouths and around their throats were tied with a bed sheet, which was torn and their faces were covered before they were placed to lie flat on the ground. “He said soon’s they try to get up, was one kick to their head,” she recounted.
Holodar’s daughter had said that Samaroo escaped during the attack by the bandits and later returned with others to render assistance to Holodar.
Mrs Samaroo noted that her husband tried his best to obey the demands of the men and lay silently on the floor. After the men would have escaped with the equipment, she said her husband related that both he and Holodar managed to get up but were unable to free themselves.
“They get up but both their hands were tied so nobody coulda help nobody,” she said. She said that her husband, still with his hands tied, managed to leave through the gates, which were left open. He made his way towards the nearby home of relatives. “When the people done gone, he get up and went to the first house out on the road. It’s my family house and he couldn’t even talk… he said it tek long before they could wake up… he had to throw his body against the wall,” she said. In the company of his son and other relatives, Samaroo travelled back to the site to assist Holodar.
She said her son, Ray Samaroo, told her that after cutting Holodar free, he was still alive but was loudly gasping for breath. She said her son related that they had lifted the man into a vehicle and rushed him to the Diamond Diagnostic Hospital but he apparently died moments after being taken from the car into the hospital.
Stabroek News yesterday contacted the dead man’ daughter, Rowena Holodar, who said that a post-mortem examination was conducted yesterday and the cause of death was given as blunt trauma and strangulation. “They said that they beat him to his head and strangle him,” she said.
The young woman continued to question the reports surrounding the case. “Why would they beat my father like that and don’t do the other man nothing? And he was the older one,” she said.
She added that the man’s employer has still not contacted the family and they are considering taking the matter further.
