A Gangaram, East Canje woman and her relatives are pleading for justice for their loved one, Ramnarine Etwaru’s bullet-riddled body was found on a dam in New Forest, East Canje Berbice more than one year ago and no one has yet been placed before the court.
Kunti Hemraj, also known as ‘Rosy’, 37, of Lot 84 Gangaram Village, East Canje Berbice on Thursday told Stabroek News, that she is pleading with the police to “reopen the investigation” into her husband’s murder.
Etwaru, 38, also known as “Bill”, a cattle farmer also of Lot 84 Gangaram Village, was discovered on September 29, 2016 with four bullet wounds in his body. A post-mortem examination was conducted which revealed that the man died from shock and haemorrhage due to gunshot injuries.
His wife during her call for justice said, “All them cases you seeing people getting catch and arrested and me husband one lef like nobody na care”.
Hemraj stressed, that if the person(s) responsible for murdering her husband is caught and placed before the court it will bring closure to the family. “It’s like this just lef, if someone get catch we will get closure”, she said.
In the initial stages of the investigation three persons were detained, after which two were released. Police sources at that time had noted that the cattle farmer who remained in custody was likely to be placed before the court. However, this was never done.
The cattle farmer was placed under arrest after Hemraj had told investigators that in August 2016 she had witnessed a heated argument between her husband and the accused. “I went to carry water for my husband and see them arguing next to the ballfield right here in Gangaram”. The woman alleged, “He did tell my husband he gone finish him”.
She explained, that her husband and the accused reared animals on side-by-side lands in the Canje Area. However, the accused would have to track through her husband’s land in order to get to his. She claimed that her husband’s animal began to go missing and he suspected the accused. “My husband stop them from walking on his land and that start the problem… Then after he stop them more animals go missing and me husband went and report it (at Reliance Police Station) and that make it get more big and me husband and he argue and he did threaten him that he go finish him”, she said.
According to the woman, the night before Etwaru was laid to rest two investigators had visited her home. “They did tell me how they got this man and they found blood stain clothes at his house and they gone charge him but then nothing ain’t happen and me ain’t hear back from the police”.
She said, she and other relatives throughout the past year continued to inquire at the Central Police Station in New Amsterdam and from detectives in Georgetown. “When I went to central they told me Georgetown dealing with the matter, we called Georgetown several times”, said the woman.
According to information gathered, the accused, who also resided in Gangaram Village some one month after being released from police custody migrated.
“He go America, after he get release about one week after the murder, with he wife and then she come back and take them children but he didn’t come back, and after then nobody na come back”.
“I did ask them police when I hear he went for visa but them say he can’t travel they have his documents and then suddenly I hear he gone”, she relayed.
The woman is fearful that because the accused has left the country justice may never be served for her husband’s brutal murder.
She further spoke of how much Etwaru’s death has affected their family. Hemraj noted, that she takes care of her husband’s stocks, which includes livestock and sheep in order to maintain herself and son. “It hard, it really hard, look now Christmas coming it really sad, he won’t be here with us”, she said as she fought back tears.
Meanwhile, Etwaru’s brother, Deonarine Etwaru, 40, of Susannah Village, Corentyne is also calling on the police to revisit the case and continue the investigation in order to nail the culprit.
“I need justice, our family need justice, we will be satisfied if we got justice, we can’t let this go down like this, my brother was a good guy”, said the man.
Etwaru’s father-in-law, Parbuall Hemraj, 64, of Goed Banana Land Village, East Canje Berbice broke into tears as he spoke about his son in law, who he described as a kind person.
“He na get fight with nobody, he use to take care of me daughter and grandson, na make them short of nothing”. The man said, his son in law was more of a son to him, “One in a million”, he said.
