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Dead Corentyne fishermen… Accused arrested and admitted to Psychiatric Hospital
The families of the Corentyne fishermen who were set ablaze by a colleague with whom they were out casting nets and fishing, are convinced that the act was intentional and nothing but murder.
Reynard Fernandes mom, Indrawattie and her husband Renaldo Sookdeo
Beeram Motee Lall, 45, of Bloomfield Village, Corentyne and Reynard Fernandes, 15, of Reef Section, Rose Hall Town, were fishing in an area just off the Corentyne coast, in the vicinity of Whim, on September 6, when around 21:00 hrs, a man called Fred whose sanity has come into question, threw gasoline on both of them, then tried to escape from the scene.
He was later arrested and remains in custody at the Fort Canje Psychiatric Hospital.
Motee Lall and Fernandes sustained burns about their bodies and were both admitted to the New Amsterdam Hospital. Lall, who was in a critical condition, was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he died a few days later. Fernandes subsequently succumbed to his injuries on September 11 around 02:00 hrs while being transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Motee Lall’s wife, Shivana, said she believes it was murder. “I think this is a murder case, because he [Motee Lall] worked for years with them and then he stopped. He left and to go and work with somebody else, then he go back and work with them. I don’t think he is a bad person. I think it is spite,” she said.
The woman lamented the slothful pace of justice in the matter. She said that she suspects some foot dragging since the boat owner, Bridgelall ‘Anoop’ Hardyal, and ‘Fred’ are relatives. “I thought that he [Hardyal] was trying to get rid of the case”.
Reynard Fernandes
She said that she is suffering financially at the moment, since her husband was the breadwinner. She is calling for financial assistance to send her four children to school. “It’s going to be very hard; I don’t know what to say. He was not a bad person. I don’t know why they should do him that.”
“He took the gas and throw it directly on my husband”, she lamented. Motee Lall was buried last Tuesday.
Boat owner, Bridgelall Hardyal’s attorney, Khemdas Raghoo, said that Hardyal had nothing to do with the entire incident, since it is the captain that selects his crew. The captain of the boat at the time was Motee Lall.
“When you own a fishing boat, the captain is available at the various fish ports, and would make an offer, would hire the boat and then he selects his crew. The owner has nothing to do with the crew. He goes out there, [and] when he catch[es] his fish, he deducts his expense (gas etc) , sells the catch, and then gives the owner half of the proceeds.
“He pays his crew. This is a traditional something…After the captain took the boat to sea, the owner has nothing to do with the crew,” Raghoo stated.
When asked why Hardyal did not call or visit the relatives of the men, he said that Hardyal “doesn’t have a right to visit them.”
Raghoo alleged that Motee Lall had a relationship with the wife of the accused and that the act (of setting the men on fire) was just a mere retaliation. He noted that there was damage to Hardyal’s boat, totaling in excess of $500,000.
Motee Lall's wife and 4 children
He added that he is prepared to fight for his client and to prove that he is not to be blamed for what happened between the men. He added that the incident took place off Guyana’s coast and that it is not sure whether it happened within the New Amsterdam or Corentyne Magisterial District.
Dead: Beeram Motee Lall
When contacted, Reynard Fernandes’s uncle, Francis, told Kaieteur News that he spoke with the Crime Chief in Berbice about the matter.
Francis said that, in his opinion, the accused, ‘Fred’, is not insane. “Even if he had a mental certificate, how can you send him with people to do those kinds of work? You don’t know when things can happen! I think the person who supposed to face this consequence was the boat owner,” he said.
Francis noted that he was supposed to go to work that morning but Hardyal pulled him off to send Reynard. “So right away this look like a planned thing”.
He said that if Motee Lall and ‘Fred’ had problems with each other, he [Fred] should have never involved young Reynard. “If Fred wanted to take revenge on that fellow [Motee Lall], he shouldn’t have interfered with the little boy.
“He [Reynard] didn’t know anything”, he said.
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