Greek businessman found dead with bullet hole in head

Aug 19, 2009 News

Police yesterday questioned the wife of a Greece-born local businessman who was found dead with a single gunshot wound to the right temple.

In happier times: Vlachakis Zackarias with his son and wife Rosemarie Budarsingh.

Investigators believe that 54-year-old Vlachakis Zackarias shot himself with an unlicenced .32 revolver during a domestic dispute with his Guyanese wife, Rosemarie Badursingh.
The incident occurred at around 06:30 hours at the couple’s 123 Ramsingh Street, Annandale, East Coast Demerara residence.
The weapon was found lying next to Zackarias with a discharged round in the chamber.
But investigators have taken the precautionary measure of swabbing the hands of the dead man and his wife, with the aim of narrowing down their investigations.
Zackarias and his wife of 10 years lived with their eight-year-old son and operate a fast food/water distribution business.
They also operate a poultry farm at Grassfield, Mahaica Creek.
Neighbours said that the couple had had previous domestic quarrels.
Early yesterday they were heard quarrelling incessantly.
The neighbours also heard the shattering of glass which suggested that the argument was more violent than normal. A brief period of silence ensued followed by a loud explosion.

Zackarias lying motionless on a sofa in his study.

According to a source, the couple’s argument stemmed from a dispute over money.
Budarsingh told investigators that following their argument, her husband went into his study and locked the door from inside. She said she heard the gunshot and upon peering through a bottom flat window, she saw Zackarias lying motionless, slumped in a sofa.
The woman broke the window and according to her, only then did she realize that her husband had shot himself.
She summoned a relative and then drove to the Vigilance police station where she reported the matter.
Kaieteur News understands that Zacharias and Budarsingh had met more than a decade ago while she was living in Berbice.
Police said that the Greek national who is a naturalized Guyanese was previously a licenced firearm holder but had lost his weapon when a boat he owned sunk in the Mahaica Creek a few years ago.
Relatives described Zackarias as a kindhearted individual.
Police say a post mortem examination will be performed on Zackarias’s body today.