Burnt body behind temple...Ex-con killed vendor to prevent him from giving evidence in friend’s murder trial

Burnt body behind temple…Ex-con killed vendor to prevent him from giving evidence in friend’s murder trial

Jun 25, 2018 News

A twisted tale of friendship and obsession seems to be emerging as the motive for the bludgeoning and burning of 56-year-old Saeed ‘Sayo’ Hamid, whose remains were found behind a temple last Thursday.
Police reportedly now have evidence that one of the two men in custody murdered Hamid so that he could not give evidence at the High Court trial of the suspect’s ‘close’ friend.
While Divisional Commander Lyndon Alves remains tight lipped on a motive, Kaieteur News understands that the plot to silence Hamid may have been hatched months ago, while one of the men was still in prison.
The suspect is said to have told investigators that he is ‘close’ friends with Asif Hamid, the son of Saeed Hamid, who is presently before the courts for a murder that he allegedly committed on a Number 36 Village businessman.
“The suspect met Asif in prison and shared a close friendship…so the suspect having been freed from prison, hatched a plan to get rid of his ‘close friend’s’ father and lured him to his place at D’Edward Village and murdered him in the presence of the other suspect.
However, Saeed Hamid’s deposition from the Preliminary Inquiry has already been tendered for the high court trial.
Additionally, it was also revealed by a relative that, “this boy (the prime suspect) went to court in December (2017) and stand up for Asif and said how he go pay for a lawyer for Asif.
Nobody na know who he was, so somebody ask he how he related to Asif and he seh how he is he friend and dem meet in prison and that he get release in October last year.”
The ‘friend’ who is now a prime suspect was freed in October 2017 after he was found not guilty by a mixed jury at the Berbice High Court.
The suspects, Satrohan Madray, called ‘Bluey’, and Antonio Balrup, had reportedly confessed on Wednesday to bludgeoning Hamid to the head and then setting his corpse on fire behind a temple that is owned by Madray.
They were both previously incarcerated for murder.
Madray was accused of murdering his friend, Dinesh Harrylall, called ‘Kevin’. Harrylall of 38 B Woodley Park, No. 11 Village, West Coast Berbice on February 17, 2014, at Madray’s residence. The victim was bludgeoned.
Madray was freed in October 2017 following a not guilty verdict.
Balrup, a former policeman, was accused of murdering a 64-year-old woman. His case was discharged following a no case submission by his attorney in 2015.
On Thursday, the two suspects led ranks to an area behind Madray’s a temple at D’Edward Village, West Coast Berbice where burnt bone fragments, suspected to be Hamid’s remains, were found.
Advice is expected to be sought today from the DPP on the way forward in the case. They are likely to appear in court this week.
Police got a break in the case after phone records they obtained reportedly showed that the suspects were in communication with Hamid at the time he went missing.
At the time, sources had indicated to Kaieteur News that Hamid’s disappearance was linked to the High Court case in which he was due to testify.
Kaieteur News had reported that during the preliminary inquiry at the Magistrates’ Court in Springlands before Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh, Hamid, the father of the accused, had given detailed evidence against his son, Asif Hamid.
The vendor reportedly left his home at Lot 41 Queenstown, Corriverton and told his youngest son that he will be back before night falls to prepare dinner as he usually would.
He was last seen entering a white Toyota Premio at the Palmyra bridge entrance on the 19th April, 2018. During his journey to the bridge point, Hamid reportedly recieved numerous phone calls inquiring about his location.

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