NIGHT OF THE BUTCHER

Oct 18, 2009 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

-a brutal killer remains on the run for seven long years

By Michael Jordan

Roshanie Sooklall and her four siblings grew up dirt-poor in a back street in Herstelling, East Bank of Demerara.
By the time she was ten, both her parents had died and at the age of 14, Roshanie and her four siblings moved to a tiny shack in a squatting community at Diamond.
At around the age of 17, Roshani started a relationship with a young man from an area at Soesdyke known as Sand Road.
By the time she was 18, she had borne the young man a son, and had moved to Soesdyke to live with the man’s family.
The couple would eventually have two more children.
But all was not well with the young couple. Roshanie’s spouse worked on and off as a canecutter at the Diamond sugar estate.
He was also reportedly quick with his fists when he had too much to drink.
Time and again, Roshanie ran away from her abusive spouse, leaving her children behind to live with her brother in the Diamond squatting area.
But her brother, Hardyal Damroo, would always urge her to return to her spouse and children.
For Roshanie, the final straw came when her reputed husband chopped her on the arm.
Roshani packed her belongings and moved back to her brother’s Diamond Squatting Area home.
This time, despite repeated pleas by her reputed husband, she refused to return.
On Saturday, January 25, 2002, Roshanie paid a visit to a female friend, Marcie Williams, who lived about 200 yards away in the same squatters’ community.
The two women spent the entire night at William’s home.
However, at around midnight, Roshanie told her friend that she was leaving, despite suggestions by the friend that she remain until daybreak.
Eventually, Marcie Williams decided to accompany Roshanie on her short journey home.
Williams was walking in front of Roshanie down a dirt track leading to their destination when she heard Roshanie scream.
On looking around, Williams saw Roshanie struggling with her reputed husband, who, from reports, was armed with a knife.
As she watched in horror, the man threw Roshanie to the ground. Squatting on the helpless woman, Roshanie’s assailant then slashed her throat from ear to ear.
The man then turned his attention on Marcie Williams, who was still standing nearby. He told Marcie that she was next, since she had witnessed the act.
Screaming, Marcie Williams ran in the direction of her home, with the killer in pursuit.
A swipe from the killer’s knife sliced her right thumb open. Luckily, her screams had alerted a female resident, and Williams managed to scamper into the woman’s residence in the nick of time.
The killer then fled from the community.
Roshanie’s brother was resting at home when he heard Marcie Williams scream out his name.
He rushed to the scene of the commotion and saw his sister’s mutilated body lying on the ground. He recalled that her neck was almost severed.
It is alleged that after killing Roshanie Sooklall, the suspect fled to Soesdyke.
He reportedly then collected the couple’s three children.
According to Roshanie’s brother, Hardyal Damroo, neither his sister’s killer nor her children have been seen since.
A relative of the suspect says that he has not seen the alleged killer since Roshanie Sooklall’s murder.
If he does, he would appeal to his brother to turn himself in, he says.
According to the relative, the couple’s children are in the care of an aunt.
Another person, who knows the suspect, says that he may have fled to the interior.
The suspect, Multie Fernandes, of Grant Sand Road, Soesdyke, is believed to be around 34 years.
Fernandes is slim in build and fair in complexion. He reportedly had a gold tooth at the time of his disappearance.
Meanwhile, Rosahnie’s brother says that he still checks at the Providence Police Station for information about his sister’s killer.
Six years after that fateful day, he still hopes that justice will be done.

If you have any information on the whereabouts of Multie Fernandes, of Grant Sand Road, Soesdyke, please contact the police.
You can also write to us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown. We can be reached on telephone numbers: 22-58465, 22-58491 and 22-58458. You need not disclose your name.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address mjdragon@hotmail.com.

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