A Vreed-en-Hoop boat builder was fatally stabbed on Saturday night and his brother is hospitalised after they were stabbed by a man who was denied permission to use a passageway at the Vreed-en-Hoop dockyard, West Coast Demerara (WCD).
Sigmol Gouveia, 36, of Vreed-en-Hoop Squatting Area was fatally stabbed and his brother, Neville Gouveia, 37, of Lot 72, Block ‘A’ Sophia is in hospital.
The stabbings occurred just around 11.15 pm on Saturday. Police last night said that they have since arrested a 25-year-old of De Willem, WCD. The arrested man is being treated as a suspect in the murder and attempted murder.
Police in a brief statement yesterday morning said a boat with three males arrived at the dockyard which is located several feet away from the Vreed-en-Hoop stelling and one of the men disembarked. Sigmol, who was present, advised the man that he could not use the area and an argument ensued.
The suspect was then advised to summon the boat to pick him back up but a second argument erupted. At that point, police said the suspect fatally stabbed Sigmol and his brother, Neville, who worked as a security guard at the dockyard went to his brother’s rescue. While confronting the suspect he sustained stab wounds to his upper right arm and chest.
The police said that the “boat then returned shortly after with over ten …persons on board. They were all armed with pieces of wood and cutlasses. They collected the suspect and they all headed across the river”.
Yesterday afternoon, the family of the victims was still puzzled by the attack and called on the police to conduct a thorough investigation for justice to be served.
“My brother that died is a well-known boat builder and contractor. He worked all over this country and in Suriname and for this to happen is unbelievable. It is hard for this family because we are not rich and he has two kids… it is not fair for him to die like this,” his grieving sister Tateka Beharry called Soney lamented.
Speaking with this newspaper outside of the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station, she said that a doctor from the West Demerara Regional Hospital called and informed a sister of the tragedy early yesterday morning.
“My sister from downstairs called me around 1.30-2 this morning and she said `Soney come quick’… I said `what happen?’ and she said come down stairs now… but before I could reach downstairs, she come up the stairs and said `Soney, Sigmol dead!’ I said `don’t tell me stupidness’ and she said `no and Neville get stab up too’”, the sister recounted.
She said they rushed to the hospital but were unable to see her deceased brother.
“When we get to the hospital we didn’t get to see him, the hearse was already taking him to the mortuary and my other brother was in the hospital emergency and that was it…” the sister said, before explaining that Neville suffered a punctured lung and remains hospitalised.
The sister said that when she spoke with Neville at the hospital yesterday he related that Sigmol visited his workplace and asked him to accompany him home since he had some cash in his bag.
She stated that while they were at the dockyard, they heard a boat coming in through the Vreed-en-Hoop Koker Channel.
“He told me that when the boat stop they saw two persons, a passenger and the [captain] and the man coming out the boat tell them that he wasn’t getting any bus so he beg the boat man to drop he and want to walk through the yard to get a bus from the road here,” she explained.
The sister added that as the man tried to jump off the boat he was told not to do so but he disobeyed. It was at that point, her younger brother went to the man and said “you ain’t just hear what the big man said, that you can’t come here.”
“In that span of time, Neville say the man was on his cellphone [but managed to take] out a knife from his waist and start jukking my brother… Neville see and he said `boy you just juk my brother and he tek the knife and push it in Neville hand and ribs,” she recounted from what was told to her.
Her hospitalised brother related to her that when the boat returned, he saw there was a whole crew armed with weapons. He said they jumped off the boat and upon seeing her younger brother lying on the ground motionless they said “leh we go long boy, this man dead.”
Sigmol’s wife Annie, told this newspaper that they returned home after 10pm and he accompanied his brother to the Vreed-en-Hoop junction and said that he was coming back.
“He never come back home… I wait for he but he didn’t come back and then meh sister-in-law call and tell me he dead…” the mother of Sigmol’s one-year-old and three-year-old children recounted.
The family members who gathered at the station said that their brothers are not known to pick trouble with people and had been working to provide for their families.
“They don’t ever pick trouble or try to influence anybody. They just work because we are not rich people we have to look to make ends meet,” the sister said.
They said that the family is willing to accept any form of assistance to aid with the burial of her brother.
Members of the public desirous of assisting the family can contact them on 629-8679 or 670-0017.
Police investigations are continuing.
