Four held for West Dem. couple’s fiery deaths

Apr 21, 2016 News

As the clock continues to tick, detectives have detained four more men who they strongly believe have something to do with the deaths of rice farming couple, Mohamed Munir and his wife Bibi Jamila. The couple was burnt to death

Dead couple: Mohamed and Bibi Jamila Munir

in their home Sunday night.
This newspaper was told that the men were all picked up yesterday by the police acting on certain information. They join the dead couple’s handyman, who was detained on Tuesday. “
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum told this newspaper last night that the men are all known characters who had previous brushes with the law.
He did not say what led them to the four suspects.
“The four men in custody are assisting with the investigations,” Blanhum said.
Kaieteur News understands that crime sleuths from the Force’s Major Crimes Unit, which operates out of CID Headquarters, Eve Leary, are assisting their counterparts on the West Coast of Demerara.
Detectives are maintaining that the couple’s house was deliberately set ablaze on Sunday night, leaving them trapped in their bedroom.
Mohamed Munir, 75, and his wife Bibi Jamila Munir, 69, perished shortly after 23.00 hrs on Sunday, after they were trapped in a raging fire that destroyed their heavily-grilled, two-storey house. Their badly burnt corpses were retrieved from the debris after the fire was finally extinguished.
Eyewitnesses said that the blaze started in the upper flat and that the entire flat was engulfed within minutes. While some residents said that they had heard gunshots, post mortem examinations performed on the victims showed that they had died from severe burns.
Police have received reports from at least one female neighbour, who said that she saw two people in the couple’s verandah before the fire broke out. The neighbour also claimed to have heard Mrs. Munir screaming that ‘bandits’ were in the house.
Shamiza Khosial said that she was up at around 23:00 hrs, when her son told her that there were people fighting at the Munirs’ residence.
On peeping outside, Mrs. Khosial said that she saw two people on the couple’s verandah. She also heard the Munirs screaming for help.
“The place was dark and I see two persons on the verandah and then I started to hear they (the couple) shouting that bandits were in the house,” Khosial said.
Investigators believe that someone who is familiar with the couple’s home was responsible for their deaths.