Boy, 7, buried as accused killer appears in court

Aug 24, 2012 News

One day after reportedly confessing to the brutal murder of a seven-year-old boy that shocked the Corentyne area, an unemployed man from Number 67 Village, East Berbice, was yesterday refused bail.
Several angry and curious Berbicians gathered at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court to get a glimpse of the accused but many were kept out of the courtyard by watchful police.

Accused killer: Fazal ‘Mongoose’ Mohammed

Fazal ‘Mongoose’ Mohammed, 21, was not required to plead to the indictable charge when he appeared before Magistrate Khrisendat Persaud at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court. He was remanded and will have to make his next court appearance on September 13th.
Mohammed was the last person seen, on Monday, in company of little Saheed ‘Buddy’ Muknauth, of Number 68 Squatting Area.
The boy was buried yesterday, hours after his accused murderer appeared in court.
Mohammed, neighbours had said, left with the boy from his flooded home to buy food on Monday afternoon. The accused was well known to the Muknauth’s family.
Muknauth’s body was discovered by a village search team at the back of a rice mill on Wednesday afternoon. An on-the-spot post mortem revealed that he died from a fractured skull. His body was found with the face badly disfigured and large portions of one of his legs stripped of the skin.
Kaieteur News understands that Mongoose allegedly confessed to killing Buddy and claimed he was drunk and was troubled by demons.
Muknauth was buried yesterday at Number 66 Cemetery with the expenses paid by the Number 68 Village Community Policing Group.
According to reports, the boy and his five siblings were left at home without adult supervision on Monday. The oldest child is 12 with the youngest, just two months old.
Earlier in the day, the boy’s mother, Anita Persaud, 34, was beaten by her reputed husband, who is a fisherman by profession. Frustrated, the woman ingested kerosene early Monday morning and was admitted to the Skeldon Hospital. However, worried about her six children, she decided not stay at the hospital but return home.

Dead: Saheed ‘Buddy’ Muknauth

Her reputed husband was taken into police custody for the domestic abuse, this newspaper was told.
The boy’s funeral was attended by his grandmother, aunts and uncles of Annandale, East Coast Demerara. His father is unaware of his death since he is currently on sea working aboard a fishing trawler.
The case has stirred anger amongst Guyanese for its very brutality and conditions under which the children were left.