The case of the stalked storekeeper

Jun 04, 2017 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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By Michael Jordan

All Mahendra Persaud planned to do that day was buy supplies for his store, and return home to his wife. The gunmen trailing him had other plans.

It was Tuesday, April 19, 2016, and 26-year-old Persaud, married just about two months ago, had left his Wakenaam, Essequibo home, at around 7.00 a.m., to pick up stock for the store that he and his father operated on the island.
Accompanied by his close friend and driver, the men first headed by truck to Providence, East Bank Demerara, to drop off a mattress. They then drove to National Hardware Ltd. at Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, then to Muneshwers Limited in Water Street.
Still travelling in the Canter, the two men drove to Continental Agencies Ltd. at Regent and Alexander Streets, to purchase paint.
At around 10.30 a.m., the truck stopped at the back gate of the store. Persaud, toting a haversack with approximately $400,000, jumped out of the cab.
It was then that a short, brown-complexioned ‘dougla’ youth in corn-rows ran up to Persaud and tried to snatch the businessman’s money-bag. Persaud refused to let go, and the two had a brief tussle over the bag.
The robber then drew a handgun. He squeezed the trigger. The bullet caught Persaud in the neck. The wounded businessman staggered onto Alexander Street and collapsed…only to be run over by a passing car.
Meanwhile, a civilian with a licensed firearm had witnessed the attack. He fired several shots at the gunman. All missed, but the panicked robber dropped the money-laden haversack.
Firing shots wildly, the gunman sprinted to Church Street, where another man on a CG motorcycle waited. He clambered onto the bike and escaped.
The driver who had run over Persaud took the businessman to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
But the driver reportedly then vanished, leaving the vehicle in the hospital compound. It was reported that he subsequently sent another man along with a mechanic to switch the licence plates on the vehicle. The two men were caught in the act and were arrested. They were not charged.
Persaud’s relatives say that CCTV footage viewed by detectives showed that the two CG bandits had trailed Persaud from Muneshwers Limited to Alexander Street. According to investigators, the footage also showed that the driver of a car had also trailed the store-keeper.
That car had also run over Persaud after he was shot. Investigators believed that the driver was an accomplice of the men on the CG bike.
About a week later, police charged a taxi driver with murdering Persaud during the course of a robbery. But three weeks later, the charges against Vieira were dismissed for lack of evidence. Police were reportedly unable to discern the licence plates on the vehicle to definitively conclude that the accused was the occupant.
As for the gunman and his accomplice, they were never arrested, though police did place a few suspects on an identification parade.
One individual who was a few feet away from the gunman described him as “a short, brown-skinnned dougla boy with hair plaited in corn-rows.”
The eyewitness estimated the gunman to be in his twenties.
Last week, investigators indicated that although they don’t know the names of the gunman and his accomplice, they can identify them. An official gave assurance that they are still trying to locate Persaud’s killers.
But Persaud’s relatives say that this is the same information that police have been giving them since the initial stages of the case.
“I am very surprised and disappointed that they have not been caught yet,” the slain man’s aunt, Koushilya Persaud said.
“The DPP’s office said that they will keep the case open, but a year has passed and nothing more has happened.”
“On to now we not getting anything from the police,” lamented the dead man’s grandfather, Noon Persaud, while appealing for persons with information to assist in bringing his grandson’s killers to justice.
“We believe in the Almighty; that he will do something. It is grieving me. I have his photographs all over the house. He was my life.”
Persaud’s relatives also wonder whether someone tipped off the bandits that the store-keeper purchased supplies in Georgetown on Tuesdays.
Relatives are appealing to the police to provide the media with the CCTV footage of the robbery, in the hope that someone identifies Persaud’s killers and their whereabouts.

If you have any further information on this case or any other, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street office or by telephone.
We can be reached on telephone numbers 22-58458, 22-58465, 22-58473, or 22-58491. You need not disclose your identity. You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email addresses: [email protected] and [email protected]

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