Killing the ex-vice chairman

Oct 24, 2010 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

– What happened to Ramnauth Bisram stunned his community… but what happened to his alleged killers outraged a country

At around 16:00 hrs on October 26, 2009, a man entered the Lot 11 North Section, Canal Number Two home of former Region Three Vice Chairman Ramnauth Bisram.
The man, a relative, was worried because he had not heard from 55-year-old Bisram.
He would later tell police that on entering the yard, he observed that the back door was open. The relative then entered the four-bedroom house and soon discovered why the owner had failed to answer.
Lying on the floor, in a pool of his own blood was Ramnauth Bisram. He had been stabbed multiple times to the back, abdomen and other parts of the upper body. A knife, suspected to be the murder weapon, was lying near the corpse.
According to the relative, Bisram’s wedding ring and another ring that he always wore were missing, while a suitcase had also been ransacked.
News of Ramnauth Bisram’s death soon spread through the community and a crowd gathered at his home. A team of detectives was there, too, searching for clues about the killers.
There was no sign of forced entry. This led to the belief that the killers had either gained entry through the back door, which was left open, or that the victim had unwittingly let them in.
Bisram, one of the community’s most prominent residents, lived alone, since his wife and four children had migrated to the United States a few years ago.
Investigators were certain that he was familiar with his attackers, and that this was no random crime by vagrants in the area.
There was suspicion that the retired official’s lifestyle might have contributed to his brutal demise. According to reports from villagers and some investigators, Bisram was rather over-friendly with some young men in his community, and would occasionally let them visit his home.
Police began to focus on villagers who had reportedly visited Bisram on the day of his death.
A few days later, they had detained Deonarine Rafick, Nouravie Wilfred and a 15-year-old boy, who were all residents of Canal Number Two.
Police reports allege that the teen, Twyon Thomas, had visited the premises to do some work around the house.
The case appeared to be proceeding like any normal investigation.
But shortly after the arrests, an informant provided Kaieteur News with disturbing photographs of the arrested teen. The pictures showed a young man’s badly burnt privates.
Other persons alleged that the lad, who was arrested at night at his home, was taken to the Leonora Police Station, where two police ranks, whom they identified, placed a bag over his head, soaked his genitals with methylated spirits, then set his privates alight.
With his face still covered, he was seen at the Leonora Police Station by a police physician, but was not taken to a hospital.
The boy’s mother and stepfather were not allowed to see him and had no idea where he was being kept.
Relatives of the other detained men also alleged that the suspects were brutalised while in custody by two rogue policemen who were trying to squeeze confessions out of them.
On November 1, 2009, the country was shocked when Kaieteur News published a graphic photograph of the teen’s injuries. That very day, he was released from custody and admitted to hospital.
By then, police had charged Deonarine Rafick with Bisram’s murder. The accused appeared in court showing visible head injuries.
But shortly after, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ordered that the charges be withdrawn.
By now, all attention had moved from the murder victim to the three accused and the three policemen identified in their torture.
Sergeant Narine Lall, Constable Mohanram Dolai and Corporal Oswald Foo, were charged with the unlawful wounding and felonious wounding of Rafick and Wilfred.
Lall and Dolai were also charged with unlawfully wounding the teenage boy.
Last February, the boy’s attorney, Khemraj Ramjattan, filed a $25M lawsuit seeking damages against the Attorney General of Guyana, the Commissioner of Police, and the two ranks implicated in his torture, Sergeant Narine Lall and Constable Mohanram Dolai. Since then the victims, Deonarine Rafick, Nouravie Wilfred and Twyon Thomas, have failed to appear in court to testify against the accused policemen.
There is a strong possibility that the matter would be dismissed if the trio fail to turn up on December 6, the next court date. And what of Ramnauth Bisram? Will his killers ever be caught?

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