Although more than nine years have passed and there has been no sign of missing Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) field manager, Levoy Taljit, his father remains hopeful that he is alive somewhere and believes that the police should have solved the case already since he said they have sufficient information.
Taljit of Anira Street, Queenstown mysteriously disappeared on December 23, 2012. He was last seen driving his Toyota Raum motor vehicle, PNN 8315, which was later found vandalised days after along the Linden-Soesdyke highway.
Hours before he went missing, Taljit was scheduled to go to the supermarket with his mother.
In a recent interview with Stabroek News, Taljit’s father, Basil said that he has not given up and is still searching for answers.
He said he last checked with the police for an update during last year. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and him not being well, he hasn’t been able to follow up. “Everytime me ask them (police), them seh they working on it. We went to them a couple of times,” Basil said.
After this, Basil said the ranks who were investigating the matters were reassigned.
However, in an invited comment, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum told Stabroek News that the case file has been assigned to investigators from the Guyana Police Force (GPF) Cold Case Unit, who are examining “several” pieces of documentary evidence.
Finding it hard to cope, Basil said he tries not to think about his son. At the same time, he said he is also trying to remain positive that his son is alive. “…I will be more than proud fah know that he alive. I got to keep hoping. It’s hard. It’s rough. I don’t like to remember it at all. I does get nervous and out of control,” Basil told this newspaper.
According to Basil, if he does not follow up with the police, he is not provided with any update. “If I don’t go them I don’t hear anything…..I ain’t too well. I sickly,” he said.
Basil had previously told Stabroek News that he did not see when Taljit left but his daughter did and based on what she said, Taljit left with his phone in hand and was not dressed like if he was going out with friends.
He had related that it was assumed then that someone might have called Taljit out.
It was after Taljit’s mother failed to contact him, that they became worried.
Taljit had promised to take his mother shopping that afternoon before he left the house but she was busy and indicated that they would leave when she was finished with what she was doing. The calls continued until after midnight that day and none of his friends knew his whereabouts.
Early the next morning, Basil went to his son’s workplace but was told that he was not on call and was not sent anywhere.
Later, he went to make a report at the Alberttown Police Station and was sent to the Brickdam Police Station where the report was taken.
Enough information
Basil maintains that the police have “enough” information to solve the case. However, he said it remains unclear why there has been no progress to date.
“They got enough information, they should have done solve that problem already but me ain’t know what them doing. Them ah seh them ain’t got enough evidence and them nah get nothing. Regarding fah bring up back the matter now, them seh them can’t use the previous statements them because it will go back to the same thing. They gah get new information,” Basil explained.
“I was hoping that this matter coulda solve but I ain’t understand why they can’t solve it. They shoulda get it by now because they got enough evidence. If you get the man bank card and he car and all kinda thing,” he added.
Days after he went missing, Taljit’s vehicle was found. It was open and had been vandalized. Missing articles included a CD player and what was believed to be a GPS device. Investigators examined the vehicle but were not able to find any fingerprints or clues which would lead to finding the missing GEA Field Manager.
Phone records had also led the police to a suspect. The man was arrested but released after 72 hours since he did not provide the police with any substantial information that could provide a clue as to Taljit’s whereabouts.
Basil had told this newspaper that the family was told by the police that while in custody the man told investigators that Taljit turned up at his home and told him that he had a problem. He claimed Taljit had a bag of money and a bag of clothes and that he was going away. He said that based on what the rank said, the man told investigators that he had taken Taljit’s car to the Yarrowkabra area on the instructions of Taljit, to hide it.
The car was later found in the exact location.
He had said too that based on what they were told the man also told that police that after Taljit went to his home they went to another location where Taljit got into a “big vehicle with three fat men inside” to go to Suriname.
He said the man told the police that the area was dark and as such he was unable to see the vehicle’s licence plate or the men’s faces.
The following week, Basil went to one of the branches of the bank that his son used and after getting no satisfaction from the supervisor went to another branch where a manager told him that only the police can get the answers they were looking for. He had said what they wanted from the bank was camera footage from the ATM machine which would confirm the man’s story.
Basil had further expressed the firm belief that Taljit’s disappearance was somehow connected with his job noting that the police might be dragging their feet on the investigation because of who might be involved.
