Victim’s wife cries outside US court as Bisram refused bail

Jul 06, 2017 News

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The alleged mastermind in last year’s murder of a Berbice carpenter was yesterday ordered held without bail until extradition hearings, after he appeared in a New York court.

According to CBS New York, Pooja Pitam, wife of Faiyaz Narinedatt, was crying in front of the court, fearing that wealthy Marcus Bisram, the accused, may still escape justice because of his money.

Pitam is reportedly in New York with her two children and was at the court with relatives.

Seeing Bisram has brought back memories of her husband, said to be a childhood friend of the businessman.

Narinedatt will never see his second child, a one-year-old who was born after his death.

“He never got a chance to hold his daughter; he never got a chance,” Pitam said on CBS New York yesterday.

On Tuesday, Bisram – a wealthy philanthropist – was arrested at his beachfront home in Arverne, Queens. He has been living out in the open, despite being listed on Interpol as a fugitive wanted for murder.

“It was hard to see him (Bisram), because he is alive today and my husband is not around with us,” Pitam said, “and my two (children) — they have to be without their father for the rest of their lives.”

She is relying on her faith.

“They say prayer moves mountains,” she said. “I’ll just keep praying and fighting for justice for my husband.”

According to a New York Daily News report, Bisram was arrested by members of the New York Police Department/ US Marshals Joint Fugitive Task Force, around 1 pm Tuesday.

Close relatives said that Bisram was not too surprised by his apprehension.  He was in fact expecting it.

The matter had been ventilated in the press not only because of the killing but the fact Bisram is said to be wealthy and was alleged to have paid local cops and others to cover the matter up.

Before being implicated in the matter, Bisram was known in Guyana for his generous donations to charity and reportedly owned properties in Berbice where he entertained cops, families and friends.

The arrest would come days after relatives complained to Kaieteur News that the authorities seemed not too keen to extradite Bisram from the US to face the courts.

On November 1, last year, the battered body of 26-year-old carpenter Faiyaz Narinedatt was found on the Number 70 Village, Corentyne foreshore. His death had been staged to look like a hit-and-run accident and two cops in Berbice were fingered in the cover-up.

According to the prosecutors’ case, the man was killed after an argument at a function attended by Bisram and friends, then taken elsewhere and dumped to make it appear as a hit-and-run.

It was after ranks from the Guyana Police Force’s Major Crimes Unit took over the investigation that Harripaul Parsram, 49, Orlando Dickie, 39, Radesh Motie, 39, Diadath Datt, 18 and Niran Yacoob, 37, were charged for the murder.

Additionally, three individuals, including Bisram’s mother, were charged for allegedly offering a detective $4M to suppress evidence against Bisram.

With regards to the procedures to return Bisram, it was disclosed recently that it has been several months since local law enforcement officials have completed and handed over all the necessary documentation that is required to have murder suspect, Bisram, extradited.

They were waiting on their counterparts in the United States to act.

“The police over there (US) had asked for some things so we arranged everything (documents) and handed it over to the US embassy in Guyana so that they could pass it over to the cops there,” a rank who is involved in the murder investigation said.

His response came after the victim’s family had expressed concern over Bisram’s current status. They indicated that the suspect has been “touring and enjoying his life” while they continue to grieve for their loved one, who has left two little children behind.

“If you check his Facebook account, he is going about with his life as if nothing happened. He parties and tours and the police are not arresting him and we are suffering here,” one of Narinedatt’s relatives had indicated to this newspaper yesterday.

The rank said that while local authorities want to get their hands on Bisram, there is a process which they must follow since the murder suspect is in another jurisdiction.

Only two Saturdays ago, the suspect’s Non-Governmental Organization, Marcus Brian Bisram Foundation, appeared in a West Indian newspaper (in the US) where it pledged to render assistance to struggling sugar workers in Guyana.

In the article, Bisram, who had worked in the US as a nurse for four years, was praised for his humanitarian work. The majority of persons who would have collaborated with Bisram in Guyana are religious leaders and businessmen.

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