Body at Liliendaal identified as taxi driver…Five teens nabbed on highway with victim’s car

Jan 07, 2014 News

Police appear to have smashed a carjacking ring comprising several teenage boys, aged between 15 and 17, after nabbing them with a car that was stolen from a taxi driver who was shot dead and dumped at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara last week.

Dead: Raphael Campbell

The breakthrough came yesterday after the dreadlocked man with a gunshot to the head was positively identified as 30-year-old Raphael Campbell, of Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara, who had been missing since last Thursday.
Police subsequently linked the youths to his murder.
The teens were nabbed on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway on Friday with Campbell’s rented car, but police only made the connection after relatives came forward to identify Campbell.
A sixth teen is reportedly still at large.
Kaieteur News understands that the suspects have told detectives that they stopped Campbell on Thursday night in Camp Street and hired him to go to Bel Air Gardens. They alleged that on arrival at their destination, an argument ensued between them and Campbell over the fare and Campbell was fatally stabbed. According to a source, the teens are all claiming that an associate, who is still at large, inflicted the wound.
They have also denied shooting Campbell, although a post mortem confirmed that he died from a gunshot injury, rather than from the stab wound. He was shot behind the left ear, with the bullet exiting his right jaw.
The teens are said to be from two adjoining communities in Georgetown with a high incidence of crime.
Kaieteur News understands that police had set up a routine roadblock on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway last Friday, and at around 18:00 hrs that day, they stopped a black Toyota Premio with six youths inside.
When one of the ranks at the roadblock asked the driver for his licence, the youth drove away, but crashed as a mobile patrol pursued the vehicle.
The driver managed to escape, but police apprehended the five passengers. Police subsequently identified the vehicle as the one that Cambpell had rented.
Rochelle Campbell, the slain man’s sister, told Kaieteur News that she last saw her brother alive on January 1, 2014. The woman said that her brother had dropped her home around 23:00hrs that day. According to the sister, relatives became worried when numerous calls to the man’s mobile phone went unanswered.
The woman said relatives decided to check the Georgetown Public Hospital mortuary on Sunday night after learning that a body was found at Liliendaal. However, the family arrived too late to view the corpse.
Campbell said that she returned to the hospital yesterday morning and positively identified the body as that of her brother.
She told Kaieteur News that it appeared that he had been shot to the head, since there was a gaping wound there. She was unable to say whether there were any other wounds to the body.
She told Kaieteur News that the victim’s girlfriend has told relatives that she last saw him on Thursday, a day before the body was found. The girlfriend has given a statement to the police in this regard.
Also, Kaieteur News was told that the “black suede” shoes which were found near the body belonged to a female relative of the dead man’s girlfriend.
Kaieteur News was told that the victim had picked up the relative on New Year’s morning from partying, and the young lady had accidentally left the shoes in the car. She too was required to give a statement to the police.
A post mortem examination was conducted yesterday by government pathologist, Nehaul Singh, who gave the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head. Kaieteur News understands that no warhead was recovered.
Two weeks ago, the body of Pegasus Hotel taxi driver, Rudrinauth Jeeboo, was found in a clump of garbage on Cane View Avenue, South Ruimveldt Gardens.
Surveillance tapes at the hotel showed that Jeeboo had picked up a male in the hotel compound and a female on the road near the hotel.