Latest update January 15th, 2025 2:46 AM
Latest News
- Gold production increases by 1,954 ounces from 2023 to 2024
- Gaza ceasefire ‘closer than ever’, Hamas says it is still awaiting Israeli maps
- “Highly unsafe environment” leads to relocation of Dorcas Club Nursery School students
- ‘It’s untenable and unacceptable’
- ‘We have all the evidence of Brutus trying to flee Guyana’ – Minister Benn
Berbice Jockey brutally kills friend over taunts about his wife.
- leads cops to where he disposed of the murder weapon
Killed: Mahendra Sooknanan
What was expected to be a regular Sunday night outing for a 21-year-old Block-maker/mason of Number 69 Village, Upper Corentyne, Berbice, turned out to be his last night alive. The young man was stabbed multiple times about his body by his friend with whom he was imbibing Sunday night.
His body was found along a dirt dam leading to his home some 800 meters away by a resident. The friend has since confessed to killing, police confirmed.
Dead is Mahendra Sooknanan, of Lot 36 Number 69 Village, Upper Corentyne, Berbice. The accused who is in police custody, has been identified as 19-year-old Irvin Somai, called ‘Bobo’, of the said village. Police had initially arrested Somai and his teen brother since Sooknanan was seen imbibing with them Sunday night.
However the younger brother was released after Somai reportedly told ranks that he had dropped his brother home before the killing took place. Somai’s wife and mother were also detained, questioned and released.
Kaieteur News was told by a source close to the investigation that the accused confessed and also provided cops with a motive for the killing.
According to the source, “He claiming that the man tell he something about he wife and caused him to lash the deceased with a piece wood. He said that the deceased had a knife on him and that (the accused) took away the knife and stab he up and dispose of the weapon nearby”.
Sookananan’s body was found face down covered in blood and mud by a resident in the area some 800 meters from his home off the 69 Village public road. The police disclosed that the body was discovered with over 25 stab wounds.
Investigating ranks took the accused back to the scene in handcuffs around noon yesterday after he reportedly confessed. There he demonstrated to ranks what took place.
This publication was present when the accused pointed to a lengthy piece of scantling in a nearby trench. This he reportedly used to hit Sooknanan after the argument escalated.
He then showed police the spot where he stabbed the young block-maker before directing ranks to the location where he discarded the murder weapon, he claimed was a knife.
He allegedly told police that he heard a ‘splash’, indicating that the weapon may have fallen into the trench. Police with the help of residents searched the trench where the accused pointed to for over an hour. They however turned up empty handed.
With no luck of finding the alleged murder weapon, the police abandoned search but vowed to return to continue the search.
The accused, in handcuffs, at the scene yesterday.
Meanwhile, at the home of the deceased, where relatives were preparing for wake, the dead man’s mother, Kowsilla Devi Sooknanan, said that she last saw and spoke with her son some time around 12:30 hrs on Sunday when he told her he was heading to his relative just a street away.
“He come and bathe and seh how he going by my cousin and he tek he bicycle and he ride and gone”. She stated that at approximately 6:30 am yesterday, a resident visited their home and informed them a body fitting the description of their son was found lying on the street.
“Somebody come and ask me if my son missing and me seh yes, me son missing, that he na deh and dem tell me somebody like he dead and deh by the street head. When me guh me see me son lie down pon the dam and he body full of blood and mud. He bin lie down pon he belly. He had on he socks and clothes but me na see he slippers,” she disclosed.
According to the father of the dead man, Chandrica Sooknanan, 53, a fisherman, he had just left his home for work and was riding when someone stopped him along the public road and told him what had happened to his son.
He explained that he was in shock when he got the news and immediately ventured to the scene where he saw his son’s bloodied body on the street. His wife, residents and the police were already on the scene. He added that he was told that his son was in the company of the accused and his brother at a nearby rum shop.
The shop owner noted that he remembers seeing the two brothers walking into the shop and purchasing the alcohol when a few minutes later Sooknanan walked in and joined them, they spoke briefly, he said and subsequently left.
The deceased was described as very respectful within the community by residents. They stated that it is a norm for him to be imbibing in the company of the brother’s since they were friends but what took place still remains a shock to them.
Police continue to investigate.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Members of the National Assembly should exercise civility towards their peers
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- The following column was published two years ago in response to the same controversy that... more
Clarifying misconceptions about the Panama Canal
Sir Ronald Sanders (Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US and the OAS) By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News–... more
Weekend Cartoon
