Cops make inroads on some execution-style killings

May 11, 2015 News

– but still a far way to go

They still have a far way to go, but police appear to be having some success in solving their most challenging homicides—execution-style killings.

Courtney Crum-Ewing

They have managed to see suspects prosecuted in the brazen murder of 19-year-old cosmetologist

Ashmini Harriram; the killing of businesswoman Patricia Sanasie; Guyana

Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) staffer Trevor Abrams and the bizarre killing of businessman, Mohamed F Khan. Harriram and Khan were slain last year, while Sanasie and Abrams were among this year’s execution-style victims.
On July 10, 2014, Harriram, 19, was about six houses away from her Lot 9 Lusignan Railway Embankment home when the a man who had emerged from a car shot her at close range to the head. She was pronounced dead at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
Two months later, police detained Elroy Doris, a 26-year-old taxi driver, and 29-year-old drumming instructor, Lennox Wayne, the alleged hit-man, for Harriram’s murder. They were subsequently charged.
On January 12, businesswoman Patricia Sanasie was about to enter her Lot 129 Atlantic Gardens, East Coast Demerara, when a gunman riddled her with bullets before fleeing.

Patricia Sanasie

The victim was the wife of auto parts dealer, Deokaran Sanasie, called Monkey Ram, who had survived a similar attempt on his life almost a year before outside his Alberttown business place, Ram’s Auto Sales.
It took police some three months before they charged 39-year-year-old Lodge resident Richard Stanton, called ‘Ritchie’, in connection with Mrs. Sanasie’s death.
Police had detained him shortly after the killing but he was released after 72 hours.
When Trevor Abrams was ambushed and killed last February, even some of his close relatives doubted that his case would have been solved.
The 32-year-old Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) engineer was driving north along the East Bank Demerara public road on February 26, 2015, when the occupants of another car riddled him with bullets.
It would take police less than two months before they would apparently crack the case.
On April 13, Steven Prescott, also known as ‘Assassin’, Orin Arthur and Rayon Paddy, were charged with Abrams’ murder.
And now police may be on the verge of solving the grisly murder of businessman Mohamed F. Khan.

Trevor Abrams

On September 23, 2014, passersby stumbled on a man’s headless and decomposing body on a dam at Cummings Lodge.
The skull, which was wrapped in a plastic bag, was located several feet from the body.
Relatives subsequently identified the victim as businessman Mohamed F. Khan.
Khan, 54, had fled to neighbouring Venezuela after selling his business on Hadfield Street and claiming theats to his life.
He had escaped execution in July, 2014 at La Grange, West Bank Demerara, when a gunman shot him in his abdomen shortly after he returned to Guyana on a brief holiday. Khan had implicated a former business associate in the attempt on his life.
Last week, Lennox Wayne, who is on remand for the murder of cosmetologist Ashmini Harriram; alleged that
he had intimate knowledge of the plot that led to Khan’s murder. He also implicated a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police and a serving Sergeant attached to the Tactical Services Unit in the businessman’s murder.
Wayne also reportedly admitted that he had shot Khan during the first attempt on the man’s life.

Ashmini Harriram

He subsequently gave a statement to Crime Chief Leslie James. Police have reportedly obtained telephone records that corroborate the informant’s story.
Apart from the two policemen, Wayne has named a businessman who he claimed ordered the hit on Khan.
The businessman is said to be a former associate of Mohamed F khan with whom he had conducted a multi-million-dollar business.
Despite these successes, police appear to have made little progress in solving similar homicides that occurred last year and within the past four months.
This year’s victims include Airmax Vulcanizing Tyre Shop owner Randolph Singh, 19-year-old alleged gang-member Ryan Sooklall, Agricola shopkeeper Randy Persaud, political activist Courtney Crum-Ewing, 28-year-old Nabaclis, East Coast Demerara resident Dwayne Kennedy, Cummings Lodge vendor Quincy Bowman, and East Ruimveldt resident, Sherwyne Barrow.