Jairam Persaud, the Canal Number One, West Bank Demerara resident who succumbed at a city hospital last Wednesday, days after he was reportedly beaten by a group of men near the Stabroek Market, was murdered, an autopsy confirmed.
Contacted for a comment last evening, Divisional Commander Marlon Chapman told Stabroek News that the police are now treating the case as a murder since an autopsy yesterday showed that Persaud died as a result of multiple injuries sustained.
Among the injuries Persaud sustained are a fractured skull, broken legs and arms.
No arrest has yet been made, Chapman said.
Persaud, 42, also known as ‘Ramesh’ and ‘Truck,’ a resident of Lot 25 Soesdyke, Canal Number One died at the George-town Public Hospital around 10am Wednesday, hours after he walked into the institution with severe injuries to his body.
His relatives had previously related to Stabroek News that they last saw him alive around 8am last Tuesday when he left home with a group of men, including a relative, to assist with some work in Station Street, Kitty. They said Persaud wandered off after being paid $1,000.
When he failed to return home last Tuesday evening, his relatives became worried and started to search for him.
However, they came up empty handed until the following morning, when they journeyed to the GPH after receiving information that Persaud was involved in an accident and taken there.
Hours before he was found, a missing person’s report was made at the La Grange Police Station.
Prior to his death, Persaud reportedly provided doctors with his personal information. He also told them that he was beaten by a group of men near the Stabroek Market, and had walked to the hospital by himself.
Dayane Singh, the dead man’s niece had explained that it was the relative who was part of the work crew who told the family that Persaud wandered off from the Kitty location and could not be found.
She said around 4 pm last Wednesday, relatives went to the GPH, where they learnt that Persaud had died.
Persaud’s father was subsequently able to confirm that his son arrived there around 8 pm last Tuesday and succumbed the following morning.
However, he was told that the body was already taken to the mortuary and he was asked to return on Thursday to identify the remains.
Upon returning, the man positively identified the remains of his son, after which a doctor read out a complaint Persaud reportedly gave before his death, including that he walked to the Stabroek Market, where six men beat him. It is claimed that he then walked from the market to the hospital, where he collapsed and was taken in for treatment.
The family is calling for the man who took Persaud to work with him to be questioned.
They said they have since been receiving conflicting reports from the men when they asked about Persaud disappearance. The man, they said is scheduled to leave the country sometime this week.
As of yesterday, the family said it remained unclear as to what might have led to Persaud’s being attacked. “We don’t know. He was wearing a watch. We collect his watch and clothes from the hospital….so it was not a robbery,” his sister Priya Persaud said.
