Five charged with manslaughter in Berbice River boat mishap

May 23, 2020 News

Five men made an appearance at the Linden Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Wanda Fortune to answer to the joint charge of manslaughter.

Ramnarine Punwasi

Marvin Kissoon

, Kevin Archer

Marvin Kissoon, 39, a fisherman of Lot 8 Sheet Anchor Village, East Canje Berbice; Kevin Archer,20, a labourer of Maria Emrita Village, Upper Berbice River; Ramnarine Punwasie, 23, a labourer of Lot 12 Palmyra Village, East Canje, Berbice; Carl Williams, 51, a fisherman of Lot 6 Adelphi Settlement, East Canje Berbice; and Netram Punwasie, 38, a carpenter of Lot 12 Palmyra Village, East Canje Berbice, were all arrested on May 19th 2020 and charged with manslaughter contrary to Section 94 of the Criminal Law Offences Act Chapter 8:01.

Netram Punwasi

, Carl Williams

As this paper has previously reported, the four men were in a boat in the vicinity of Friendship Village, some 50 miles up the Berbice River, when another vessel with five men crashed into theirs. The collision reportedly caused both boats to capsize with all the occupants inside. Those occupants of the other boat were Romario Denhart, his father Godfrey Denhart, Julian Mckenzie and Kidman Lindie. The five defendants managed to reenter their vessel and left the location without assisting or searching for the other men.
The bodies of Lindie, McKenzie and the Denharts were eventually found floating a few miles away from where the incident took place in the waters. Police had soon after arrested the captain of the defendants’ vessel, Marvin Kissoon, who led investigators to the other men who were with him in the boat. They were arrested at a location on the East Bank Berbice where a quantity of cannabis was found in their possession. They were all charged with possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking at the New Amsterdam Magistrate Court shortly after.

Autopsies conducted on the bodies of the dead men detailed that Lindie died from drowning compounded by multiple injuries, while Julian Mckenzie and Godfrey Denhart died from multiple injuries as well. Romario Denhart died from a fractured spine.

The charge was read to them via Zoom and they were not required to plead. All five were remanded to prison and the matter was postponed to June 19th for the Kwakawani Magistrate’s Court for report.