Gariban Ali, who was arrested on Monday after being on the run over more than a year after he allegedly murdered a neighbour in New Amsterdam, is likely to be arraigned today.
This is according to Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum, who told Stabroek News that the Director of Public Prosecutions has advised that a murder charge be levelled against Ali. Blanhum said the suspect has since confessed his involvement in the crime and he is expected to be charge today.
On Monday Ali was arrested at a house at Haslington, East Coast Demerara with 7.5 kg of marijuana.
In July, 2015, a wanted bulletin had been issued for Ali, called “Bagiee,” whose last known address was given as Levi Dam, Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam, Berbice.
He was wanted by the police for questioning in relation to investigations into the murder of Patrick Boodie, which occurred on April 15, 2015, at Levi Dam.
Boodie, 38, of Levi Dam, died and two others were injured after a fire that was set to clear land led to a dispute.
Those injured were Boodie’s brother, Calvin Charles, 44, and Jason Nicholas, 28, a mason and taxi driver who was in the vicinity at the time of the incident.
The police were on the hunt for two brothers since the incident and Ali was said to be one of the two. His brother remains on the run.
Charles had previously told this newspaper that on the day of the murder he had lit a heap of vegetation on fire. Sometime after, he was alerted by one of the suspects, who owns a property next door, that the fire was damaging the neighbouring property. “I push my head through the fence to see what part of the wood burn and he chucked me, so I chucked him back. Ah din know that another brother was at the back of me and this one lash me to my head,” Charles had said. He added that one of the brothers dealt him a chop to his shoulder.
He had said that he then went through an alley in the area and told Boodie what had occurred. Boodie then walked out, unarmed, to inquire about the misunderstanding.
Charles admitted also that he had armed himself with a pitchfork and was returning to the scene. He said he saw his brother talking to the suspect before being chopped on his legs and falling into a trench nearby.
He had recounted that before his brother could get up, he saw one of the assailants approaching and then shooting. “I didn’t know that my brother get hit… all I hear, ‘Bladam! Bladam! Bladam!’” he recalled.
Boodie succumbed at the New Amsterdam Hospital, where Charles was treated for the chop wounds he sustained in the altercation. Nicholas, who had attempted to make peace, sustained a gunshot wound after the shooter fired wildly.
