Paishnarine ‘Richie’ Hansraj and Justin Teixeira, the two men who were discovered dead in a vehicle in the Marriott Hotel parking lot last month, died after ingesting sodium cyanide, according to Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn.
“It is very clear that it was cyanide that was ingested…not only from the testing of the material that was there but the discoloration and other observation,” Benn told Stabroek News on Friday.
The Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory (GFSL) had informed the police that the “whitish, hard” substance which was found in the vehicle with the bodies was suspected to be sodium cyanide, but the local lab was unable to conduct testing to confirm the suspicion.
As a result, samples of were sent overseas for testing.
Late last month, the Ministry of Home Affairs had said that preliminary analysis confirmed the presence of cyanide in the substance that was found in the vehicle.
Autopsies performed on the men’s remains also failed to establish the cause of their deaths. Stomach contents were removed from the bodies to be sent overseas for toxicology testing.
However, Benn was unable to confirm whether the results from the toxicology tests had been received.
The men’s bodies were discovered in Teixeira’s vehicle, PAC 2607, around 00.15 hrs April 23 in the Marriott Hotel parking lot, at Kingston by a hotel staffer. Teixeira was a guest at the hotel.
The police, in a press statement, had said that ranks of the Brickdam Police Station were summoned to the scene.
On arrival, a hotel worker related to them that around 23.30 hrs on April 22 he received a call from Teixeira’s mother, who related that he was experiencing a seizure, the police said. The mother requested that someone check on him.
As a result, the worker told the police that he immediately dispatched another employee to check on Teixeira, who was staying on the sixth floor. However, his room was empty.
“The employee then went to Teixeira’s vehicle, where he observed Teixeira sitting in the driver’s seat. All of the windows of the vehicle were half-way down,” the statement said.
It noted that the employee then opened the front passenger door of the vehicle and discovered Hansraj, sitting in a crouched position. Both men appeared to be motionless, the police added.
After the police were summoned, the men were pronounced dead at the scene. There were no visible marks of violence on their bodies.
