Latest update November 23rd, 2024 12:15 AM
Retired public servant murdered in South R/veldt home
Worried neighbours who went calling for Hector Fitzroy Marshall discovered the 64-year-old pensioner murdered at his Lot 362 Powis Close, South Ruimveldt Park home yesterday morning.
Dead: pensioner Hector Marshall in his younger days
Marshall, a former Personnel Officer attached to the Ministry of Information, and later Personnel Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy in the Institute of Adult and Continuing Education, and the holder of other posts in the public service, was found with his feet and hands bound together with pieces of clothing from his home. He was also gagged.
According to the dead man’s neighbour, Aubrey Jordan, he woke up at 05:00 hrs yesterday morning to assist his wife to prepare meals. The man said that his wife got up about an hour later and began to prepare for work. Jordan said that it was customary for his wife to stay from her windows and call out for Marshall, who would already be up.
After calling for some time, the man said, his wife found it strange that Marshall did not respond to her, so the woman sent her youngest son, Jason, to check on Marshall. It was shortly before 7:00 hours.
Jason told Kaieteur News, “Mommy send me to check on Mr. Marshall, because she calling and he ain’t answer she.”
Marshall’s mother, Bernadette Todd, was the person who would cook for him and would render any assistance to the pensioner.
According to Aubrey Jordan, immediately after going up the stairs, the boy saw that the “house keys” were still in the door and that the door was ajar. The boy went inside the house, and searched around the home after checking Marshall’s bedroom and discovering that he was not there.
Marshall was later found in a back bedroom of his home with his feet and hands bound together with pieces of clothing. Upon seeing the body, the boy rushed back to his parents to tell about what he had seen.
Both parents rushed over to Marshall’s home and discovered the body. They immediately called the dead man’s relatives and informed the police.
Undertakers removing Marshall’s body from the house.
Neighbours at the scene of the crime speculated that the man might have been killed after he had spoken about collecting a substantial amount of money from the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).
They noted that Marshall would never keep substantial cash in the home. One neighbour told Kaieteur News that Marshall had told them that he was waiting for the money to accumulate, so that he can repair his house.
She said that Marshall may have encashed one of the vouchers, since one of his friends said that he had asked him if they “wanted any money to borrow”. Some neighbours told Kaieteur News that whenever Marshall was intoxicated, he would always “talk about the money that he was supposed to collect”.
Some neighbours opined that he was followed home by someone he knew, and that the person may have also known about the money and killed Marshall. This theory was supported by the fact that the home was ransacked, suggesting that a person or persons was/were looking for the “money which Marshall had spoken about.
Police were also investigating the possibility of someone entering the home through a window from which louvre blades had been removed.
However, neighbours said that although the house was ransacked and Marshall was killed, no one had heard anything.
Others opined that Marshall may have been intoxicated, which would have made him defenceless. Detectives found a half emptied bottle of “Cherry Brandy” on the verandah. Hector Fitzroy Marshall is survived by his lone son and other relatives and friends.
One neighbour said that only recently a house in the same street was broken into and valuables taken.
A post mortem is set for Wednesday.
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