Three men were charged with murder yesterday after three separate killings at the end of last year, including the fatal shooting of a Brazilian miner who was robbed of raw gold.
O’Neal Griffith, Elvis Felix and Leonard Fredericks were not required to plead to the charges that were read against them in a city court.
Griffith is accused of murdering Brazilian national Bras Al De Santos, who was shot during a robbery on December 30.
Police, in a press statement, had said that around 10pm last Wednesday, the miner, who was only identified as ‘Brian,’ was working at a mining operation at Puruni Backdam when he was held up by a man armed with a firearm who fatally shot him in the neck and took away a quantity of raw gold.
Griffith, 26, of Linden, was arrested at Itaballi the next day. Police have said he confessed to the crime. The raw gold was found on him.
A police source informed this newspaper that during the confession, Griffith told investigators that he went with a boat a little distance from the dredge where the victim and another man were operating and where he saw them fixing an excavator. A scuffle ensued between the men, during which the gun went off and hit Brian in the neck. The source said that Griffith related that it was then he held up the other Brazilian and relieved him of 5 pennyweight of raw gold and drove away with the boat. Griffith allegedly confessed to throwing the firearm into the river and abandoning the boat in the course of making good his escape. Felix, called “Blondie,” 28, a miner of Kato Village, North Pakaraimas, was charged over the Boxing Day fatal chopping of Ryan Simon.
Simon was reportedly talking about Felix, who became annoyed and left for home and returned with a cutlass, which he allegedly used to deal Simon several chops. He fell to the ground but managed to get up, after which he informed his wife that he was going away.
The suspect attempted to flee and had managed to make get a few miles away before police ranks, who alerted about the murder, subsequently arrested him.
Meanwhile, Fredericks was charged with murdering Peter James, 65, on December 31, at Hell Hill, Matthews Ridge, Essequibo. According to the police prosecutor, Fredericks, 23, of Heaven Hill, Matthews Ridge, stabbed Fredericks several times about his body. The men, who had a two-month-old argument, had been drinking at a bar.
All three men were remanded to prison and each case is due for another hearing on Thursday at Court 1.
