A Providence, East Bank Demerara labourer disappeared mysteriously 11 days ago from a chicken farm at Long Creek, Soesdyke-Linden High-way, and his family is fearful that he is a victim of foul play.
Julie Etwaroo yesterday told Sunday Stabroek that her brother, Gopaul Jagdeo, 48, journeyed to work at the chicken farm with a man known as ‘Teddy,’ sometime between July 23rd and July 24th. He was reported missing on July 25th.
A missing person report was subsequently lodged at the Timehri Police Station.
Etwaroo said the family only learnt of Jagdeo’s disappearance days after, when a sister of his employer contacted a sister-in-law of Jagdeo.
“…I said ‘What? How is Gopaul missing?’ We didn’t take it on much because we seh maybe he musse deh somewhere around,” Etwaroo said. However, several searches for Jagdeo have proven futile, leaving his relatives worried.
On July 30th, Etwaroo related that she and other family members travelled to the farm.
She said ‘Teddy’ related to her that he left Jagdeo and another man to work on the farm.
‘Teddy’, Etwaroo said, told her that on July 23th he received a call from the other man, who informed him that Jagdeo experienced a seizure.
“[He] said he had to go out on the road to get a call to ‘Teddy’ to let him know Gopaul catch fits. So when he did that, ‘Teddy’ call another camper there. This is what Teddy relate to me. He tell the man to get a thousand dollar and go into his camp, collect Gopaul, put he in a vehicle and send him home,” Etwaroo recalled.
She said the following day the man once again called ‘Teddy’ and volunteered to take care of Jagdeo, while requesting that he not be sent home.
On July 25th, Etwaroo said she learnt that the man again called ‘Teddy,’ only this time it was to alert him to the fact that Jagdeo was missing.
While at Long Creek, Etwaroo said she sat and talked with the man in an effort to determine what really transpired.
“I sit down and I talk to [him]. I seh… tell me wah happen. How Gopaul disappear? He tell me how Gopaul catch fits and he call ‘Teddy’ and he wake up and he was ok and he call ‘Teddy’ and tell Teddy that don’t worry, he gon’ take care ah he (Jagdeo),” Etwaroo related.
“…He seh the next day now Gopaul bathe and he put on a grey t-shirt and a track pants with he slipper and he was inside the camp looking after a radio and Gopaul was outside when he finish bathing walking around the place. He said Gopaul brace on a tree and he seh when he look up within half an hour Gopaul disappeared,” she added.
Etwaroo further stated that the man also reported to her that he began to call out for Jagdeo but got no answer. “We went in that place. If yuh shout fah somebody, they gon’ hear yuh and if my brother did catch fits and he fall down deh, he woulda left right deh. He can’t go nowhere else,” she said.
Etwaroo said that the circumstances under which her brother disappeared are not adding up and she and other members his family fear the worst. “…I believe that somebody kill him…is ten days now and my brother would not walk out of a farm somewhere he don’t know. He is not that kind of person,” Etwaroo said.
She also accused to police of conducting a “sloppy” investigation of Jagdeo’s disappearance.
Etwaroo said that the a detective working on the matter reportedly told her that they visited the area on several occasions but were yet to gather any evidence. “…They said they have to look for evidence. I said what are you waiting for? If you don’t go and investigate and look for the evidence, how will you find the evidence?” she noted.
Etwaroo further related that the police called her sister-in-law yesterday to tell her that they went back to the scene and they “Can’t do anything” since they haven’t “found anything.” “So yuh know wah dah mean deh? Dah mean this is over with. But we are not taking it like this. We refuse to take it like this. We will do whatever we have to do to go further to get justice. My brother they got to find him. He is not a fight man. He is not a bad man,” the distressed sister lamented.
Sunday Stabroek was informed by a police source that an investigation is ongoing into Jagdeo’s disappearance.
