It has been a little more than three months since Mohamed and Jamilla Munir were burnt to death in their Good Hope, East Bank Essequibo home, and their eldest child fears the family will never get answers since their killers are still roaming the streets freely.
Speaking to Stabroek News via telephone recently from her New York home, Bibi Nazarene Munir said any child having to lose both parents in such a manner is very painful and something they will never be able to overcome.
She said although three months have elapsed since her parents were killed, the horror of it is still fresh in her mind and she is still grieving a lot. The devastated woman said while there are many unanswered questions surrounding her parents’ deaths, she and her siblings have been hoping that they will get justice soon.
Mohamed and Jamilla Munir were burnt to death in their home on the evening of April 17 after bandits broke in and subsequently started a fire after the couple barricaded themselves in their bedroom.
During the active probe, investigators have been working on a number of theories but to date they have not been able to determine who is responsible. Several arrests were made, including that of a handyman of the Munirs. Suspects were questioned but were later released since there was not sufficient evidence linking them to the crime.
Nazarene said she visited Guyana earlier this month, once again, during which she tried to gather as much information as possible in relation to the investigations but unfortunately she didn’t get as much as she expected.
“We woke up every day hoping that with all the cold cases being solved recently we will get justice but to date we don’t know who [killed] our parents…,” Nazarene said. “What we do know that hurts us a lot is that whoever the killers are they are living a normal lifestyle and roaming the streets freely,” she added.
She explained that the latest update she received from the police was that they were following a different lead. However, she is of the assumption they didn’t get anywhere with that too since she was not told anything in a while.
Nazarene recalled receiving the tragic news of her parents’ deaths and arriving in Guyana several hours later. “It was a neighbour…who called a relative of ours who passed on the message,” she said. The following morning she and her brother arrived in Guyana after boarding a flight which was leaving New York one hour after she received the call. “When we reached the house was still smoking and they were removing my parents’ remains,” she said.
She explained that since the Munirs died many stories are being told but she herself is puzzled as to what exactly contributed to her parents losing their lives so cruelly. “The only two things that could come to my mind when I think of this is either jealously or it was an act done on purpose,” she stated since they had no enemies.
This was based on the kind of people her parents were and the life they lived. “They were full of life, hope and dreams, so much more to live for,” Nazarene cried.
She said distance had not tampered with the relationship she and her siblings shared with their parents since they were always in constant contact. Therefore, she was sure that if they had received any threats to their lives they would have informed them. “We would speak to them every day and take turns in visiting them on a regular basis and because of their ages, they never kept anything from us,” she said.
She assumed that the act could only have even been carried out by those of “wicked” minds whose only aim was to get rid of the Munirs, while noting that there were many people who owed them money and didn’t wanted to pay their debts.
“My parents were aged people, who worked all their lives to get what they had and it’s not fair to know when they were supposed to be benefiting from it, someone just snatched it away,” she said. “They helped so many people, and it puzzled me and my other siblings as to why someone would want to do this to them. They had no enemies,” she lamented.
