Regent Street businessman Farouk Hamid was found dead in his backyard with multiple stab wounds yesterday morning and both investigators and his family are baffled as to what might have led to his murder.
Hamid, 56, the owner of Hamson’s General Store on Regent Street, was found on the premises of his Lot 97 Collingwood Avenue, Nandy Park, East Bank Demerara home by his wife.
The woman told Hamid’s relatives that she had telephoned him but after getting no response she decided to visit. However, when she turned up at around 9AM she made the gruesome discovery.
This newspaper was told that there was a single stab wound to Hamid’s chest and several to his face.
A senior police official, who said a motive is unclear, noted that it appeared as though Hamid was attacked sometime between late Wednesday night and early yesterday morning.
From all indications, the attack occurred just as Hamid entered his yard. His locked vehicle was found parked in front of the house.
There are no reports of his home being broken into or of missing items, although it was suggested that a ring might have been removed from one of his fingers.
When Stabroek News arrived at the house, mourning employees were
gathered outside the premises. A woman expressed shock at the manner in which her employer was killed.
Fazil Hamid, the brother of the deceased, told reporters that persons in the neighbourhood said they heard nothing, which he found strange. He noted that his brother had dogs and the person who committed the crime may have been familiar with them. “If they were familiar with the dogs then there would be no reason for the dogs to bark because he had, I believe, a pit bull at the back there,” he said, before adding that his brother also had another dog that was housed in a secure area to the left of the property. As this reporter passed that area, the dog started to bark.
Asked if his brother had any problems with anyone, the man said no and added that if anyone investigated they would find that he was such a wonderful chap; [with] no enemies.”
Fazil Hamid did note that his brother did have an argument with a former employee but he could not say when it occurred and he opted not to disclose to the media what the argument was about.
Police investigators spent several hours combing the yard and an adjacent empty lot for clues before the corpse was removed.
Hamid’s business was shut tight yesterday and a black flag was nailed to a nearby utility pole. In 2008, the store, which sells mainly building, plumbing and electrical material, was gutted by an early morning fire. The store was later rebuilt.
