Bloody week pushes murders to 71

Jun 08, 2015 News

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– seven slain in five days; disputes, crimes of passion top list of killings

A particularly violent week in which seven people were slain in five days, has pushed the country’s homicide rate to 71 killings in just over five months.
Statistics compiled by Kaieteur News indicate that the 71 victims were slain between January and June 6.
Guns were used in 24 killings, confirming the growing presence of illegal firearms here.
Disputes and ‘crimes of passion’ accounted for most of the deaths. According to this newspaper’s statistics, 25 people were killed during disputes and eight by jealous partners.

Fifteen women were slain over the past five months, including four young females aged 19, 18, 17 and 14, and three elderly women aged 73, 67 and 68.
Of this number, six were killed during confrontations with male associates; three (including two of the senior citizens), were slain during home invasions, two were found battered in remote areas; one was the victim of an execution-style murder, one died from burns after her home was set alight, one was allegedly stabbed to death by a female friend, and one of the elderly women is believed to have been slain by persons who  tried to make it appear as if she was a rape/robbery victim.
Between Sunday, May 31 and June 4, Kaieteur News recorded seven murders in five days.
On Sunday, May 31, Dennis Narine, 26, a taxi driver, was shot dead at his Lot 598 La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara home. Initial reports had indicated that bandits had shot Narine after he woke to investigate a strange noise. Police now suspect that a male associate of Narine’s spouse may have committed the act.
That same day, Jason Ramotar, 24, was stabbed to death at Kaneville, East Bank Demerara home, allegedly during an argument with an in-law, who has since been charged with murder.

At around 14:35 hours on Monday, June 1, rice farmer Hardat Kissoon was robbed and shot dead in a mini-bus at Turkeyen Public Road, East Coast Demerara, by a gunman who had apparently trailed the businessman from a city bank.
At around 19.00 hrs that same night,Terrence Lanferman, 23, of Lot 37 Nelson Street, Mocha, East Bank Demerara, was shot dead at his home, allegedly after responding to someone knocking at his door.
At around 05.00 hrs on Wednesday, June 3, the badly chopped bodies of Parbatie Vijrauren, 37, called ‘Nickey’, and US-based Guyanese Ramdat Persaud, 56, were found at Persaud’s Tain Village Corentyne, home.
Police subsequently arrested and charged Vijrauren’s husband, Twenty-six-year-old Ian Boodhoo, with the double murder.
Then on Thursday, June 4, Manu Durant, 40, was shot dead in the popular Baroombar Strip Club on North Road, during a confrontation with another man.

BAFFLING MURDERS
Among this year’s homicides are a series of killings that have police baffled. Among these are the murders of 67-year-old Ramdai Mohabir, Suroogpattie Ramlakan, 73, Chandroutie Basdeo, 68, Ramesh Katarnauth, 28,  Alicia Ali, 14, and Davykumarie Ramadar, 17.

On February 9, the nude body of 67-year-old Ramdai Mohabir, called ‘Aunty Elsie’, was found in her Lot 665 Topo, Albion, Corentyne, Berbice.
A postmortem revealed that the victim, who had lived alone, was raped and strangled.
On February 20, Suroogpattie Ramlakan, 73, called Auntie Carmen, of Richmond Village, Essequibo was found lying on the floor of her two-bedroom home.
Her night dress was pulled above her knees and her neck bore lacerations. A post mortem revealed that she was struck on the head and strangled. But the postmortem also showed that Ramlakan’s killer had inflicted injuries on the pensioner to apparently trick investigators into believing that she was raped.
In late March, 29-year-old Ramesh Katarnauth left his Sandy Babb Street, Kitty home, reportedly to buy a pack of cigarettes.  His battered body was later found near of the Kitty seawall. A postmortem revealed that he was beaten and then drowned.
A few days later, the nude body of 14-year-old Campbellville Secondary School student Alicia Ali was found on the seawall at  Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara.
She was reportedly last seen alive by her mother, Maylene Williams, when she left her home to go to a nearby shop.
Police had initially suspected that the teen had taken her own life, after finding a suicide note in her bedroom on Thursday. In the note, which appeared to be addressed to Maylene Williams, the teen’s mother, Alicia Ali accused her mother of restricting her movements. The teen also reportedly stated that by the time her mother read the letter, she (Alicia) “would be dead.”
But a pathologist who conducted a postmortem on the teen’s remains yesterday gave the cause of death as asphyxia due to drowning, compounded by compression injury to the neck and blunt trauma to the head. The pathologist found no evidence of sexual assault.
On Saturday, April 11, the decomposing body of Devkumarie Ramadhar, 17, of Bella Dam, Pouderoyen, West Bank Demerara, was found on the foreshore at La Jalousie, West Coast Demerara. She had been reported missing on April 04, 2015.
The cause of her death is so far undetermined. However, two men were arrested and questioned by the police and later released on bail.
In a recording, made on the very day she disappeared, Ramadar, with visible injuries, had complained of being repeatedly beaten by her lover.
The recording was reportedly made at the victim’s place of employment, after she turned up at work with bruises on her neck. Her colleagues subsequently used a mobile phone to record her speaking about her abusive relationship with an individual, whom she did not name.
For the year, the Guyana Police Force’s Public Relations Department has been reporting an increase in murders and other serious crimes, in comparison to figures released last year.

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