A Williamsburg handyman was yesterday remanded to prison on a murder charge when he appeared at the Reliance Magistrate’s Court.
Ivor Thom, 44, of Lot 16 A Williamsburg Village, Corentyne, Berbice appeared before Magistrate Renita Singh who read a charge which stated that Thom, on Sunday August 27, murdered Vishram Mohabir, also known as, “Ajai”, a mason of Lot 258 Williamsburg Village, Corentyne.
Thom was not required to plead to the indictable charge and was remanded to prison.
The court also heard that Thom had had prior interactions with the law in 2013 and 2014. Police Prosecutor Leon Robertson stated that the accused was previously before the court for wounding, trafficking of narcotics, threats, simple larceny and assault.
When Magistrate Singh informed Thom that he wasremanded to prison and will return to court on September 12, he answered, “alright”. The man seemed oblivious to the situation as he stood firmly in the docks.
Mohabir, 19, was rushed to the Port Mourant Hospital on Sunday morning, sometime around 4 am, after he was stabbed once in his neck. Mohabir was subsequently transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital where he succumbed sometime after 5 am, while receiving treatment for his injury. Mohabir’s younger brother, Kunal Singh, 15, who sustained several minor stab wounds on both arms, was also taken to the Port Mourant Hospital on Sunday morning. He was treated for his injuries and subsequently released from the hospital.
Singh, in an interview with Stabroek News, stated that a car wash in the area held a ‘Back to School party’ on Saturday evening, which he attended with his brother and their neighbours. He said that sometime after 3 am on Sunday morning, “Me deh walk a go house and drop me bicycle and then we walk go back fuh collect me buddy, (Mohabir) and the man been a sit down over the road, and then he run up just so to me and stab me.” Singh added, “When he stab me, me call for me friend, and me buddy run and he stab me buddy in he neck.”
Singh had insisted that Thom had launched the attack after being involved in a heated argument with his neighbour.
“We neighbour that went to the party … and he argue because like he (the accused) drink up and smoke up and pelt a bottle at the boys and them argue. So when me walk go back he must be feel me went with them, so he run and stab me”, the teenager said.
However, the owner of the Highest Grade Car Wash and Bar, Rufus Fraser, 36, who usually hosts the annual ‘Back to School party’, told Stabroek News, that one of his neighbours told him that the teenage brothers along with three friends were allegedly beating the accused on the Public Road.
“My neighbour told me that the man (the accused) was running coming down this way and like he feel they taking advantage, so he run because he know a party was here but when he reach here I guess he decided to represent himself and that is when it get fatal… I can’t say if the boys were here or not, but like I said they come from up the road, maybe they were going home and then they see this guy and think they could take advantage, because when people drink they do all kinds of things, they want make a fun of it and then these things happen”, Fraser said.
