Two men were yesterday charged with the 2012 murder of Sideek Juman, who was found dead at the Double Day Hotel at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo.
Bhojnarine Bhola, 29, the manager of the hotel, and Leyland Johnson, 26, a driver employed with Bhola, appeared before Leonora Magistrate Rushell Liverpool and were read a charge which stated that between November 18 and November 19, 2012, they murdered Juman.
Neither defendant was required to enter a plea to the charge.
Attorney Ganesh Hira appeared on behalf of both defendants and requested the disclosure of statements in relation to the matter.Both defendants were remanded to prison until December 16, which is slated for the next hearing.
Juman’s body was pulled from the hotel’s pool on November 19, 2012. At the time of the discovery, there were visible marks of violence about his body and his head was swollen.
A subsequent post-mortem examination found that he died from asphyxiation and that “blunt trauma to head” also contributed significantly to his death.
Juman had gone to the hotel on the day before and had an argument with another man, who he had seen with a female friend of his.
Police sources say that suspects have confessed that Juman was afterward beaten until he fell unconscious.
The men then removed his body to a room at the hotel. However, after realizing that he had died, they then reportedly dragged his body into the pool to make it appear as though he drowned.
His relatives were convinced that he was murdered since his personal belongings, including his clothing, which he had removed before taking a dip, his smartphone and his wallet were missing. Juman’s relatives had previously told this newspaper that they believed he was “lured” to the hotel.
He had gone to visit his grandmother at Ruby, also on the East Bank of Essequibo, when he received a call to go to the hotel.
Two of Juman’s friends, a man and a woman, both in their early 20s, were initially arrested along with another man but they were all released after questioning.
