The body of a teen was pulled from the Mahaicony River yesterday morning with suspected chop wounds to his head and a man has been arrested by the police in connection with the incident.
Dead is 19-year-old Neeraj Michael, a farm hand of Bottom, Cham-pagne, Mahaicony, who had left his home on Monday to go to a wedding. His body was retriev-ed from the Mahaicony River sometime around 9.30am yesterday.
According to a police press release, Michael had a misunderstanding with some persons at the function and later left with other persons in a boat. It was during this time that it is suspected he was chopped with a cutlass and thrown into the river.
The release further stated that a man has been arrested and is in police custody assisting with investigations.
Michael’s grandmother Laxmi Kangal told this newspaper that around 3 pm on Monday he had told her that he and his employer were going to a wedding house at Hyde Park, Mahaicony and he would sleep over at a relative in the area since he had to work Tuesday morning.
“I tell he don’t go,” Kangal said in tears. “I even try to frighten him. I tell he that people does kill people at the back deh [Hyde Park], but he still went.
Kangal said that according to reports, Michael was in the boat along with two other individuals, heading to the other side of the river when the assailant who she said, was a drug addict, took a cutlass and chopped him. The other individual after seeing the attack jumped out of the boat in fear and began alerting persons about what had happened.
She continued that, based on that report, relatives and friends went to the exact spot where they used hooks and recovered the body of the teen.
Kangal said yesterday that she had cared for Michael since he was a year old. He was the eldest of four children.
“How dem guh chop meh baby? Carry he till in the river and chop he? That person has to get jail for life time,” Kangal said crying, as she was consoled by relatives yesterday.
Close relatives describ-ed Michael as a humble and loving person, who would always find time to crack a joke now and then.
“He was a good boy, not one problem. I don’t know why somebody would do this to him, man. He was a quiet, quiet boy,” one relative said.
