The Director of Public Prose-cutions (DPP) yesterday advised that one of the men held in connection with the stabbing to death of taxi driver Omar Harper be charged with murder, police sources say.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that Rakesh Kumar called `Balgo’ of Sixth Street, Cummings Lodge is to make his first court appearance today. This newspaper was reliably informed that the other suspect who is Kumar’s cousin has been released from police custody.
The duo was held on Saturday hours after the stabbing occurred at Third Street, Cummings Lodge.
Harper had rushed to the aid of a woman whose phone had earlier been grabbed by bandits on bicycle.
The robbery victim Latchmin Sookraj had recounted to this newspaper that around 6:30 pm she and relatives were heading to their place of worship when a man on a bicycle rode into her path and attempted to hold her right hand, in which she had her BlackBerry smartphone. Realizing that she was about to be robbed, she said, she threw the phone in front of her.
The man on the bicycle, she recounted picked up the instrument and rode off into Third Street. His accomplice followed but not before placing an ice pick to Sookraj’s neck and warning her not to resist.
However, as the bandit turned into the street, his bicycle chain slipped and it was at that point that Sookraj shouted for help and the nearby Harper responded. As the man tried to get away, Harper got into his car and trailed him, she said. Harper lived a stone’s throw away from where the incident occurred and was tending to his car.
Sookraj was unable to see what transpired thereafter as by the time she reached the end of the street she saw persons fetching a wounded Harper. He was conscious and talking at that time.
He died some time later while undergoing treatment at the Georgetown Hospital. The stab wound damaged several organs including his pancreas.
Stabroek News was told that residents first held onto a cousin at a shop located on the UG access road after he was seen acting suspiciously. The man later led them to a house at First Street where Kumar was hiding.
The man according to reports turned off all the lights and locked the doors. It was only after persons started kicking the door that he opened it.
