Degutted bodies identified

Oct 02, 2009 News

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two others, trawler missing

Evidence recovered by the police from the two degutted bodies has almost convinced relatives that the degutted bodies recovered on the islands of Wakenaam and Hamburg are those of Captain, Titus Buckley, 40, of Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, and engineer, Mahendra Singh called Sunil, 25, of Parika, East Bank Essequibo.
Buckley’s body was found on the northwestern side of the island of Wakenaam, on Tuesday, while Singh’s body was discovered on the eastern side of Hamburg Island the following day.
Two other crewmembers, Ryan Chin, who reportedly hails from Kuru Kuru, and Rickford Bannister, of Herstelling are still missing. So too is the vessel.
Although relatives of the dead men have not seen their bodies, investigators were able to confirm their identities from the description of the items recovered.
Kaieteur News understands that investigators were able to trace a cellular phone found on one of the bodies as belonging to the boat captain, Buckley, a Brazilian.
Relatives told this newspaper that Buckley, a father of two, left his home two Tuesday’s ago. They only learnt about his fate after reading the Kaieteur News.
His wife, Shanty Rickiram, was grief-stricken. She said that she last spoke to her husband on Saturday. She said that he told her that he would be home that night and that he asked her to prepare fish.
She said that she removed the fish from the freezer but her husband never returned. She said that she tried calling his cellular phone but it would ring once and stop.
She said that the two had been married for 20 years and that the union produced two children aged 11 and four.
By noon she had to be hospitalized.
His brother in law, Ganesh Rickiram, told this newspaper the dead captain was last contacted by his wife on Saturday evening.
“He told her he was coming home in about two hours. But till the next day when he ain’t come, she keep calling his phone and got no answer,” Rickiram said.
A boat captain also, Rickiram said that the boat that his brother-in-law was piloting is equipped with an SSB set that can be accessed from any part of the world.
The other body from which a wristwatch and gold ring were recovered was identified as that of Mahendra Singh.
His reputed wife, 17-year old Ahalia, was unaware of the fate that had befallen him when this newspaper caught up with her at her parents’ home in Covent Garden, East Bank Demerara.
She said that Singh’s cousin had got the job for him on the boat on Friday.
According to the teenaged mother, Singh had been out of work for quite a while and had grabbed the opportunity when the job was offered. As such he left the home with only the clothes he was wearing at the time.
He was contacted by his mother-in-law on Saturday morning and he informed her that the vessel was ready to sail and that he had no credit to contact his reputed wife.
He asked his mother-in-law to convey to his reputed wife that he would not be back in a hurry. This was nothing strange to the family.
“Sometimes he does gone for a month, so is only from Sunday to now and we don’t know if he gone Trinidad or Suriname,” Singh’s reputed wife told Kaieteur News.
At the time she was not aware that his body was found, although she was hearing reports of bodies washing ashore in the Essequibo River.
It was only after she was told of the clothes, ring and wristwatch that were found on the body at Hamburg that she began realizing that Singh had to be one of those bodies found.
This newspaper was able to ascertain that the body at Hamburg bore gold caps on at least three upper teeth. Singh had similar dentures..
Buckley’s decomposed body was found face down at a place called Black Rock on Wakenaam on Tuesday afternoon, while Singh was discovered around 10:30 hours on Wednesday, about two miles away.
Police said that a farmer from the village of Zeelandia had contacted them by telephone and informed them about the first body which was clad in a blue three-quarter pants and white shirt.
Buckley’s body bore three bullet holes to the top of the head and the face was battered. There were no teeth and eyes. All the internal organs were missing.
During the post mortem examination, which was performed at the scene, bullets were removed from the skull. The body was eventually buried at the scene.
The body of 25-year-old Mahendra Singh was in a similar state with its internal organs also missing. There were also bullet holes to the left side of the head.
According to a source close to the investigations, the bodies were surgically disemboweled.
According to reports Buckley, Singh and the two missing crewmembers had taken the vessel on a trial run to test its seaworthiness for the planned trip to Trinidad.
Their employer last heard from them on Saturday, while the vessel was moored at a place called Parika Beach.
A source told this newspaper that the crewmembers had indicated that they were coming in to port in the Demerara River when they were contacted around 6pm on Saturday.
However, hours later when they did not show up, several attempts to contact them proved futile.
The following day, Sunday, the owner of the vessel along with other concerned associates made checks at Friendship, where the boat would normally be moored, but it was not there.
Checks were also made at Parika, since it was felt that the vessel had developed mechanical problems and was towed there. Again it was not found.
Another boat was then used to comb the Atlantic Ocean about 16 miles from shore. And that effort, too, was unsuccessful in locating the missing trawler.
On Monday, the Lighthouse was contacted but no distress signal was received there nor was there any sighting of the trawler.
This led the owner chartering an aircraft to fly out in search of the missing vessel.
After finding no trace of the vessel or its crew, the owner was almost convinced that the crew had met with ill fate.
On Tuesday afternoon the Lighthouse did make contact with the vessel and someone responded, indicating that they were in the vicinity of Mahaica/Mahaicony East Coast Demerara.
But after then no other contact could be made with the vessel.
Anjie, the wife of missing crewmember, Rickford Bannister, is still clinging to hope that he is still alive despite news of the discovery of the bodies of his colleagues.
According to the woman, her husband was a good friend of his employer so when he offered him the job last week Tuesday on the boat he readily accepted.
“He never work on a boat but he say he gone try.”
The woman said that she did not hear from her husband or the owner of the boat until Tuesday last, when she was informed that the crew was at Mahaica and that they will be brought to the city the following day.
When her husband did not arrive home on Wednesday, Anjie said she again contacted the owner of the vessel.
“I call the owner this morning (Thursday) and identified myself and asked him if he could tell me something about Ricky. He tell me to check the papers and I will see a man looking like Titus, the captain. That is how I know about the incident,” Anjie told this newspaper.
Crime Chief, Seelall Persaud, told this newspaper that local police would be seeking the assistance of Interpol, should the vessel the ‘Island Princess’ happen to be out of the jurisdiction.
He said that investigators have taken statements from the relatives of the crewmembers and are now trying to establish a motive for the killings.

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