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Farmer detained for killing alleged cattle rustler

Sep 08, 2008 News

ITHACA, WEST BANK BERBICE – Police have detained an Ithaca, West Bank Berbice farmer in connection with the shooting death of a 35-year-old man whom he had accused of being a cattle rustler.
Marlon Fraser, called ‘Bruk Hand,’ of Lovely Lass Village, West Coast Berbice, was shot dead early Saturday morning in the Ithaca backlands. The farmer has alleged that Fraser had attacked him with a cutlass.
However, the slain man’s relatives are adamant that he was no thief, and suggested that he was slain because the farmer, with whom Fraser sometimes worked, owed him money.
Some of Fraser’s relatives alleged that his body bore burn marks, and one relative suggested that he might have been tortured. However, a senior police official denied that Fraser’s body bore any burns.
Kaieteur News understands that the farmer alleges that he went to check on his herd on Friday and discovered that over 20 of his cattle had been stolen.
He also claimed that he saw Fraser in the area and suspected that he had stolen his cows.
Police say that the farmer informed ranks at the Blairmont Police Station about the theft.
At about 12:30 hours on Saturday, the cattle farmer, who owns a licensed shotgun, returned to the same station and  disclosed that he had shot Fraser, whom he alleged had attacked him with a cutlass.
Police accompanied the farmer to the Ithaca backlands and found Fraser lying in a pool of blood with what appeared to be gunshot wounds to the neck and chin.
A cutlass was reportedly found near the body.
The suspect was subsequently arrested and his 12-guage shotgun seized, along with a shotgun casing, ten rounds of 12-guage cartridges and a cutlass.
Michelle Bess, who has been Fraser’s common-law wife for eleven years, refuted suggestions that he was a thief.
“He is just a quiet person,” she told Kaieteur News.
“He don’t fight or quarrel with people. He was working at the Ithaca ranch. The one that kill him did ask him to take care of his cows, and he refused. The same man had some money for Marlon. Marlon used to look after their cows before and he refused to pay him. I tell Marlon not to take care of them, and since then he always threatening Marlon.”
Ms. Bess explained that Fraser lived on the ranch where he worked and she last saw him on Friday morning, when he bought some milk home.
According to her, he had appeared to be worried.
“He was really quiet. I kept asking him what was wrong and he kept saying nothing.”
She recalled that Fraser left home just before noon on Friday.
“When I was at home, I got a phone call and somebody asked me what is Marlon’s title and I said Fraser. So I asked them if anything happened to him and they just keep telling me no.
I asked the caller who I am speaking with and they said they calling from Ithaca and they said they would call me back, and hang up.”
She said that shortly after, her sister received a phone call from someone who revealed that Fraser had been shot.
The slain man is survived by four children; 11-year-old Tomica, nine-year-old Darren, Dmytry, eight, and Talisa, who is five years old.

( Melissa Johnson )

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