Suspect denies killing drug store owner

Aug 27, 2011 News

…when contacted by phone

Pull Quote: “I got to be a madman to be working right there and do something like that. I change (my lifestyle).”

The prime suspect in the murder of Harold Rachpaul has denied that he killed the 84-year-old drug store proprietor. But he says he fears the police would force him into a confession because of his criminal past.
The former security guard, familiarly known as ‘Dhal Belly’, has been in hiding ever since learning that detectives wish to question him about Mr. Rachpaul’s murder.
The 32-year-old man worked at a business premises near Rachpaul’s Drug Store, but police say that he walked off his job the very day that Mr. Rachpaul’s bound and gagged corpse was found.
Police also say that he was seen in the vicinity of the victim’s premises on the night of the murder.
But the former security guard repeatedly professed his innocence yesterday when Kaieteur News managed to contact him on his mobile phone.
“I got to be a madman to be working right there and do something like that. I change (my lifestyle). I working. I does draw my box hand, I does work for $15,000 a week, I does draw my leave money ($30,000); I content with that.”
Dhal Belly’, who says he has four small children, admitted that he was once on the wrong side of the law.
He said he was remanded to prison twice on armed robbery charges, but was never convicted. He’d worked as a guard for over a year at a Robb Street establishment.
Asked about his movements on the night of the murder, ‘Dhal Belly’ said that he was on duty outside his employer’s premises up to midnight last week Thursday. He said that footage recorded on the security cameras on his former employer’s premises can verify his story.
He claimed that shortly after midnight, he went to “take a five” in the yard of another Robb Street business place near Rachpaul’s Drug Store. After resting, the man said he returned to his worksite, and his employer’s cook arrived at around 05:00 hrs. He said he later opened the premises and assisted the cook in cutting up some vegetables.
The former guard stated that at around 13:00 hrs last week Friday, he received a call from someone who identified himself as a policemen. The caller requested that ‘Dhal Belly’ submit himself for questioning in connection with a murder.
According to the former guard, he informed his employer about the development, and asked the businessman to accompany him to the station.
“I tell he to come in with me, that the (security) cameras will pick up everything, and he refuse.”
The suspect said that he then told the police that he would only submit himself for questioning if he can hire an attorney.
Police subsequently searched his home and briefly detained his sister.
Since then, police ranks have been repeatedly calling his mobile phone and requesting that he submit himself for questioning.
According to ‘Dhal Belly,’ he has refused to be questioned “because I afraid they would knock (charge) me for something I didn’t do.”
The suspect claimed that during one of his previous arrests, “they (the police) beat me so bad that I admit to things that I never do.”
He suggested that police look at three other people who might have information about the murder. He said that two of the individuals are ‘junkies’ who sleep at night in a yard near Mr. Rachpaul’s home.
Rachpaul’s gagged and bound body was found near his bed at his Lot 75 Robb Street residence by his son and grandson at around 08:00hrs last Friday. An autopsy confirmed that he had been strangled.
Investigators believe that the killer made off with some $1M in cash and other items from the victim’s residence.
According to relatives, a vault was open and a quantity of phone cards and cash were missing.
Police sources stated that there were no visible signs of forced entry.

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