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12 murders in 27 days
– similar number of homicides in January 2010
Twelve people, including a 21-year-old teacher, a US-based citizen and a 14-year-old boy were murdered in the first 27 days of this year.
A similar number of people were also slain during the same period in January 2010.
Last year, four of the victims were women; there were two execution-style killings, and six of the 12 murder victims died of gunshot injuries.
Six of these cases remain unsolved.
Dead: Igris Blackman
Dead: Saleema Mohan
In contrast, one woman has been slain so far for this year and there have been no execution-style murders. Four of those slain died of gunshot injuries. Five of the 12 homicides are still to be solved.
The first to die by the gun this year was Sean Craig, a resident of 57 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam.
He was shot in the chest around midnight on New Year’s Day. The killer was a lone gunman who was robbing the Mars Gas Station and variety store in New Amsterdam.
A suspect was subsequently arrested and charged.
Two days later, popular Linden businessman Albert Joseph, called ‘Bolo’, was shot in the stomach and side by a gunman at Bolo’s Variety Store at Lot 71 Sunflower Street, Wismar. The gunman reportedly fled with less than $10,000 and the victim’s gold chain.
Joseph succumbed four days later. His killer is still at large.
On January 17, Sanjay Persaud, 40, an itinerant vendor of Sisters Village, West Bank Demerara, was shot and robbed outside the abandoned Piggott’s Drug Store located at the Regent and Bourda Street junction. He died the following day.
Police are still to arrest his killers.
Two days later, 59-year-old Roopnarine Ramodit, a US-based Guyanese, was shot dead by bandits at Clifton Settlement, Corentyne, Berbice, hours after he had returned home for a one-week vacation with his wife. His murder is also unsolved.
Domestic violence is said to be the motive for two of the 12 murders this year.
On January 3, Saleema Mohan, a 21-year-teacher of Lot 256 Zeelugt, was stabbed to death in the bedroom of her Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo home.
The suspect, Mohan’s common-law husband, subsequently hanged himself.
On January 20, the bound and battered body of 35-year-old Detective Constable Igris Bobb-Blackman was pulled from a septic tank at Parfait Harmonie on the West Bank of Demerara.
Blackman’s body was found on a property he had shared with his former reputed wife, 58-year-old Desiree Jeffers.
The couple was in the High Court for the division of a $12M property they jointly owned.
Desiree Jeffers was subsequently charged with murder, while police have issued a wanted bulletin for 38-year-old carpenter Sven Niles.
On January 11, Elton Thompson, 14, of South Rupununi was battered to death at Chinese Creek, Puruni, while he and another Guyanese were imbibing with two Brazilian nationals.
One of the Brazilians, identified as Frank Rebeiro, allegedly beat the teen to death during an argument. He was arrested and charged.
On January 23, police unearthed the body of a Brazilian from a shallow grave near Moco Moco, Rupununi.
Police said that 26-year-old Wycliff Smith, of Moco Moco, Rupununi, whom they had captured, confessed to shooting and burying the victim.
Police said that Smith, who was charged with murder, was wanted for several other offences.
The four women who were murdered in January 2010 were 22-year-old trainee teacher Luciana Bhagwandin, stabbed 16 times and dumped on a roadside in Harlem, West Coast Demerara; 36-year-old waitress Kulmattie Singh, shot dead at Safraz Bar in Kitty; 25- year-old Sunita August, murdered at Canal Number One, Polder, West Bank Demerara; and 43-year-old Nalini Bhoge, who was hacked to death at her Line Path, Corentyne home.
Sunita August and Bhoge were victims of domestic disputes.
The victims of execution-style killings during the same period were businessman Vibert Weekes, gunned down in Robb Street, and Nicholas Hoyte called “Zaiah”, 29, of Lot 54 Fifth Street, Alberttown, riddled with bullets in his car at the corner of Sixth and Light Streets.
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