Teen fished out of Berbice River... Boyfriend tells cops he struck lover with paddle after she danced with another man

Teen fished out of Berbice River… Boyfriend tells cops he struck lover with paddle after she danced with another man

Jun 22, 2020 News

Melissa Soman

The handcuffed suspect at the scene

Incensed that his girlfriend Melissa Soman had danced with another man, a 22-year-old farmer clubbed her with a paddle near the Berbice River, where she jumped overboard and failed to resurface.
Police reportedly received this confession yesterday from the suspect, who took them back to the area where he had killed the 17-year-old, whom he had known a mere four months ago.
The suspect was arrested last Saturday after Melissa Soman’s body was fished out of the Berbice River.
Soman, who had been missing since last Wednesday, is survived by a two-year-old son.
According to individuals close to the investigation, the 22-year-old suspect alleged that he had attended a birthday party last Wednesday at Gaettroy Village, Berbice River, and had seen Soman gyrating on a boat owner (who is also in custody).
He began to beat Soman and the boatman attempted to rescue the teen.
The boyfriend alleged that he then grabbed a paddle and repeatedly struck Soman and the boat owner.
Both victims reportedly jumped overboard to escape the assault, but Soman never
surfaced. The slain teen’s mother, Raquel Soman revealed that her daughter was pregnant at the time of her death.
The teen’s eldest sister said that the boyfriend appeared to be a controlling individual.
According to the sister, Melissa had confided that she wanted to break off the relationship “because she don’t know how long she gon rally out with him and his behaviour.”
Melissa was staying with her boyfriend in Gaettroy Village, Berbice River.
Her father, Paul Soman had told this publication that his daughter had lived with them at 58 Stanleytown but then moved to the prime suspect’s home.
It was Thursday morning that someone told Mr. Soman that his daughter had ‘jumped overboard’ on Wednesday night. Her disfigured body washed up around 15:00 hrs that Thursday.
An initial report had suggested that Melissa had been on a boat with the owner. It was alleged that she was making her way out the Berbice River to her home in Stanleytown when she jumped overboard. The owner of the vessel was arrested. He told investigators that Soman was confiding in him about her complicated relationship with her boyfriend and it was during the conversation that she plunged overboard.
He had stated that he failed to rescue her and then alerted persons from the village.
Even then, the dead teen’s father was adamant that the boyfriend had played a part in his daughter’s death.
A post mortem is scheduled for today in Georgetown.

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