SUCH MEN ARE DANGEROUS

Aug 11, 2013 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

By Michael Jordan
How many times have you heard people say of someone who had committed some heinous crime: “He was a quiet and peaceful man; we don’t know what got into him.”

Shawn Fordyce

That’s the way some described Oral Hendricks. He drowned two small boys in a canal and slit the throat of a third. That was two decades ago, and, once again, we’re hearing those words, ‘quiet’ and ‘peaceful’ to describe two very dangerous men.
One of them is Richard Lord, the 26-year-old cane-cutter who, on Wednesday, July 31, 2013, killed his two children, and left his reputed wife without her right arm and with no fingers on her left hand.
The other is Shawn Fordyce, the ex-policeman who chopped his wife and three step-daughters the following day.
The two despicable acts were preceded by unsettling history.
At the age of 14, Bibi Nazarena Houston eloped with Richard Lord. That was when her misery reportedly began. She claimed that her spouse repeatedly accused her of being unfaithful and that she was constantly beaten.
About two weeks ago, Houston left her Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo home with her children. But she returned home on Wednesday, July 31, 2013, after seeing a probation officer.
According to Houston, she told her husband that she was leaving him. He reportedly began sharpening a cutlass and asking her where she had been while she was not at home. She thought of escaping, but he shut the door.
First, he chopped five-year-old Kimberly Houston, almost severing her neck. He then killed two-year-old Tarif Lord before hacking off his reputed wife’s right hand and severing the fingers of her left hand. The killer then fled and Ms. Houston is terrified to return to her home.
“He know that I am not dead and he gon come back to kill me.”
But the alleged killer’s father, Albert Lord, told me that he was unaware of his son’s violent outbursts.
“I’m shocked about this. He’s not that kind of man. He complain to me how she go and lef’ he and he don’t know where she gone and he want he children. She go away plenty times and he go and bring her back. Up to Tuesday night (the day before the tragedy) we talk and he say that he only want he children and I say ‘why you don’t leave the woman before you do something stupid?’ and he say ‘no daddy, I wouldn’t do nothing’. He’s a very quiet man…a peaceful man.”
Police, in a bulletin issued for the suspect, describe Richard Lord as being of mixed ethnicity, medium build, and brown in complexion. They say his last known addresses were given as Lot 867 Zeelugt North, East Bank Essequibo; and Lot 2 Viva La Force, West Bank Demerara.

Wanted: Richard Lord

Persons with information that might lead to his apprehension can contact the police on telephone numbers 225-6411, 226-6978, 268- 2222 or the Guyana Police Force emergency number 911.
So let’s turn to Shawn Fordyce. Some of the ex-policeman’s associates described him as a bitter man, who felt that some family members did not appreciate the sacrifices he had made. The associates said that he had hinted to them of marital troubles. One relative would later claim that he was a ‘tormented’ man.
At around 21:00 hrs on Thursday, August 1, 2013, the seething anger that the ‘D” Field, Sophia man harboured against his family exploded. His wife, Dorothy Blackman-Fordyce, indicated that she was going out with another female relative. However, she reportedly changed her mind after her husband objected.
Ms. Fordyce then left to buy a phone card. According to relatives, believing that his spouse was still going out, Shawn Fordyce reportedly threw a handful of muddy water on her. Latoya Wilson, one of the man’s step-children pleaded with the man to stop, which he did. But Fordyce, it is alleged, then ran inside the house, picked up a cutlass and began to attack his wife and step-daughters Attorney-at-Law Wanda Fortune; Latoya Wilson, 20; and 12-year-old Donette Fordyce. The attack reportedly only ceased when the suspect’s cutlass slipped from his hands.
Because he’s still at large, Fordyce’s victims are terrified to return to their Sophia home. They have alleged that he contacted a friend of the family and expressed surprise that his victims were still alive. He reportedly even turned up at the hospital where some of the victims were being treated, but left after a security guard recognized him.
Wanda Fortune believes that that some of her stepfather’s relatives are assisting him. She says he has connections in Paradise, West Coast Berbice; Guyhoc Park; Sophia, both B and D Field; D’Urban Street and Middle Road, La Penitence.
The attorney is convinced that her stepfather meant to kill them, and that they will all be in danger as long as he remains on the run.
A police bulletin described the suspect as dark in complexion and of medium build. His last known addresses are Lot 132 ‘D’ Field Sophia, East Coast Demerara and Paradise Village, West Coast Berbice.
The police are appealing to anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of Shawn Fordyce to contact them on telephone numbers 225-6411, 226-6978, 229-2569, 229-2702, 229-2557, 911 or the nearest police station.

If you have any information about this or any other unusual case, please contact Kaieteur News by letter or telephone at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown offices. Our numbers are 22-58465, 22-58473 and 22-58458. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address [email protected].