Doomed Princess

Jan 23, 2011 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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Ryan Chin

– a high-seas horror story

By Michael Jordan

This is no romance tale about an exotic, tragic Princess from a land far, far away. This is a home-grown horror story, plain and simple; a tale about disembowelment and gore—the twist is that the monster remains unknown.
Remember that boat that vanished in 2009, like it had been swallowed up in the Bermuda Triangle and then suddenly re-appeared in another country with bullet-holes in its hull? Remember what happened to its crew?
The questions that remain to this day are who were the monsters that murdered them in such a macabre fashion? Why were they slaughtered? And what was the fate of the fourth man, whose body has never been found?
Our story begins on Saturday, September 26, 2009, when the Island Princess, a trawler converted to a cargo boat, departed Parika for Friendship, East Bank Demerara.
On board were its captain, 46-year-old Titus Thomas, called Titus Nascimento; 25-year-old Mahendra Singh, called ‘Sunil’, Ryan Chin and Rickford Bannister.
The plan, according to reports, was for the crew to take the Island Princess on a trial run before a scheduled trip to Trinidad. The last time their employer heard from them was when the vessel was moored at a place called Parika Beach, in the Essequibo River. The crew had informed their boss that they would be coming in to port in the Demerara River.
The first sign that something was wrong was when several hours passed and the crew failed to show, and efforts to contact them failed. The following day, the owner of the vessel made checks at a Friendship, East Bank Demerara wharf, where the boat would normally be moored. The Island Princess was not there.
Suspecting that the vessel might have developed mechanical problems and been towed ashore, the team checked at Parika. But again there was no sign of the Island Princess.
Another boat was then used to scour the Atlantic Ocean about 16 miles from shore, but still, the Island Princess remained missing. The lighthouse staff also said that they had received no distress signal or had any sighting of the cargo boat. The owner stepped up the search; chartering an aircraft to fly out in search of the missing vessel.
But on Tuesday, September 29, a farmer from Zeelandia, Wakenaam, spotted the decomposing body of a man lying facedown near an area called Black Rock, located on the northern side of the island.
The victim was clad in blue three-quarter pants and white shirt.
Police visited the scene and secured the body with pieces of rope and guarded it until crime scene experts arrived early the following day.
The body bore three bullet holes to the top of the hairless head. The teeth and eyes were missing, and someone had gutted the victim open like a fish. The remains were eventually buried at the scene.
Around 10:30 hrs on the following day, September 30, police received word that another body had washed up near the eastern side of Hamburg Island.
This one also had bullet holes to the left side of the head. The internal organs were also missing.
The decomposing remains were clad in a pair of long black pants. Investigators discovered a gold wedding band on the left ring finger and a wristwatch on the left hand.
A cellular phone was also found on the body.
The corpse near Black Rock, Hamburg, was subsequently identified as that of boat captain Titus Nascimento. The other victim was identified as Mahendra Singh.
On October 2, 2009, a third body was found on the Queenstown, Essequibo foreshore. Like the others, this one had been disemboweled and had gunshot injuries to the head and right leg.
The victim was initially believed to be 46-year-old Herstelling resident Rickford Bannister. However, the dead man was subsequently identified as 23-year-old Ryan Chin of Lot 39 Fairs Rust, Linden.
Investigators believe that the men were slaughtered some time after the morning of Tuesday, September 29, 2009.
Chin, the last person to contact relatives, had spoken to an aunt that morning, informing her that he was on a trawler and had just finished cooking. The seaman’s mother last saw him on September 19, 2009. Ryan had informed her that he was going to work at sea and was travelling to Trinidad.
On October 6, the bodies were exhumed and DNA samples taken, after which relatives were allowed to perform final rites before they were reburied.
But where was Rickford Bannister? And where was the Island Princess?
As days passed with no sign of the cargo boat and its fourth crewman, the owner, Errol Prince, aided by others, extended the search area for the missing vessel.
Prince chartered an aircraft which travelled as far as Abary and Supenaam without finding a trace of his cargo boat. Meanwhile, police officials sought the assistance of Interpol and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Around mid-October 2009, DEA operatives revealed that they had located the Island Princess off the coast of Grenada. There was no one on board.
The driving tanks had about 600 to 800 gallons of fuel—enough for the vessel to reach Trinidad.
Grenada police officials who boarded the Island Princess found the vessel intact and valuable equipment and other items on board.
Among items found on the vessel were a radio set, an aluminum lifeboat and navigational equipment.
Bullet holes were clearly evident.
Speculation was that the persons who took the Island Princess to Grenada were instructed by their accomplices to abandon it.
Three months after being located, Grenadian authorities finally released the Island Princess, and the vessel was brought back to Guyana.
The motive for the killings remains unclear. Local investigators have uttered the usual clichés about “soured deals,” and “suspected drug-related crime”—words that usually suggest that they have suspicions but little else.
About two weeks after the Island Princess was located, investigators detained a funeral parlour owner, his brother and an employee in connection with the brutal murder of the crew. A chicken farmer and a popular Parika businessman were subsequently arrested.
According to reports, a vessel the businessman owns was moored at a Friendship, East Bank Demerara wharf after the Island Princess disappeared. The funeral parlour owner was also said to have owned a vessel.
But after a few days, all the suspects were released. No one else was arrested. It is still unclear why investigators suspected that the men they had detained might have committed the heinous crime.
Suspicion of drugs aside, there has also been suggestions that the crew was involved in a massive fuel-smuggling racket.
Family members of the victims have complained that they have not been compensated for the loss of their loved ones.
Speaking with me at the time, the owner, Errol Prince, said that his main hope was that the investigators would locate the persons who brutally murdered the crew.
“Lives were lost on this vessel. I would like to get down to the bottom of it, and I hope that the DEA picks up more clues. Why did they (the killers) go to the lengths to degut these people? That is what I’m most interested in. The families need answers. I need answers.”
None have been provided to date.

If you have any information about other unusual cases, please contact Kaieteur News at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown location.
We can be reached on telephone numbers 22-58465, 22-58491 or 22-58473.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address [email protected]. You need not disclose your identity.

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