A 47-year-old City Constabulary Quartermaster whose lifeless body was discovered around 5.30 am yesterday by relatives at his Sophia home is believed to have committed suicide.
Dead is Compton Joseph, who according to reports, was being sought by the police and Constabulary officials in connection with money belonging to the Constabulary which he could not account for.
Chief Constable Andrew Foo said Joseph was employed as a Quartermaster and had sole responsibility for the Constabulary’s Quartermaster Store.
The missing money amounted to approximately $1 million. However, Joseph’s neighbours told this newspaper that he had admitted to taking $600,000 but said it was not for his personal use.
Foo said that last Wednesday, a former offender went to the City Council to uplift bail money and the money could not be found. However, at that point in time there were no suspicions about where the money may have gone.
According to Foo it was Joseph’s actions that raised suspicions. Foo explained that after the issue about the non-available bail money, Joseph stayed away from work. “He was absent from Thursday to Saturday last week and his day off was on Sunday and he proceeded to stay away on Monday,” Foo said.
Officials attempted to contact Joseph by phone, before eventually going to his home.
Foo said that on Monday Joseph’s mother told Constabulary officials that he had been admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) after consuming
a poisonous substance in an attempt to commit suicide.
However, around midnight on Monday, Joseph left the hospital and it was at this point that the Constabulary thought it best to involve the police in the matter.
“This morning [yesterday] his mother said he drank poison and was found dead in front of his bathroom,” Foo said.
Contacted, Mayor Hamilton Green said it was unfortunate that Joseph allegedly took his own life.
When Stabroek News visited one of his homes at ‘B’ Field Sophia, Rocquel Mingo, who is currently carrying his child was too distraught to speak.
Efforts to contact his wife Roxanne Beresford were futile.
Persons living in the area said that the night before Joseph’s death, police officers went to his ‘B’ Field Sophia home searching for him before leaving.
He also leaves to mourn one child and relatives.
