Six men executed for the year so far

Aug 16, 2021 News

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– Five cases still unsolved

Kaieteur News – Including the recent execution of the Brazilian businessman on Regent Street, a total of six men have been executed for the year so far. Those men are Euclid Erian Da Silva, a businessman; Jaleel Leow, a mechanic; Odingo Anthony Haywood; Dale Christopher; Osafo Pollard, a taxi driver, and Ricardo Fagundes, a gold dealer.
Members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) had arrested several persons in relation to the murders. But to date, no one has been charged for the murders of Da Silva, Leow, Christopher, Haywood, or Fagundes execution.

Pollard was the first person that was executed this year. He was killed while attending a birthday party. According to reports, Pollard 29, of West La Penitence, Georgetown, was one of the attendees at a birthday party, which was being held at a residence in North-East La Penitence, when gunshots rang out.
After the brief chaos ended, Pollard was seen lying on the ground and bleeding from a wound to the head. Persons on the scene had initially told this publication that someone who was wearing a black jersey was seen running away after the shots were fired.
Twenty-four-year-old Leroy Jones was later remanded to prison for the murder of Pollard who was a father of two.
Similar to Pollard’s execution, 27-year-old Dale Christopher was murdered at a party. This was just a few weeks after Pollard was gunned down.
Christopher called “Sun Skull,” of Lot 1A Rosemary Lane, Cummingsburg, Georgetown was executed at a party that was held at Hill Street, Lodge, Georgetown. It was reported that over 500 persons were in attendance.
On February 23, 2021, around 01:15hrs Christopher’s friends went to his home and picked him up to go to ‘Curl Up’ party. Hours after leaving home, Christopher was a dead man.
It was reported that around 06:00hrs, two to three explosions were heard. This caused the 500 plus crowd that attended the party to start to disperse. Christopher was rushed to the hospital but later succumbed – he was shot to his abdomen.
The police had issued a wanted bulletin for a former murder accused in relation to Christopher’s execution. The man had surrendered to the police hours after it was made public that he is wanted. However, he was subsequently released from custody. To date, no one has been charged for Dale Christopher’s execution.
In another matter, Ricardo Fagundes called ‘Paper Shorts’ was executed on March 21, 2021, in front of a popular nightclub in Georgetown. Since his execution no one has been charged with his murder.
It was reported that a heavily tinted White Toyota Fielder was parked outside of Palm Court, on Main Street, Georgetown for a while until Fagundes stepped out. CCTV footage of the shooting showed that as he walked towards a black pick-up parked on the western end of Main Street, his assassins emerged from the back passenger seat of the car and ran towards him as they riddled him with bullets.
Fagundes dropped to the ground and they fired a few more shots at him before re-entering the car as it sped off in a southern direction.
Hours later, a burnt-out car similar to the one used by the assassins was found at a location along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway. It was reported that the car is linked to Fagundes murder.
The fourth person that was executed this year was Odingo Anthony Haywood, 25, also known as “Dingo” of Charlestown. Haywood was executed on April 21, 2021, on Drysdale Street, Charlestown, Georgetown.
According to reports, his grandmother had related that he had gone home earlier that evening but received a phone call shortly after and went out. The woman said he did not tell her where he was heading. He reportedly locked his door and the grandmother went to bed.
A while later, his grandmother said she heard “pie, pie, pie, pie (sound of gunshots).” When she ventured outside to investigate, the woman said that Haywood “was lying on the road bleeding from gunshot injuries.”

Another family member who had seen Haywood alive said that she saw him riding home on his bicycle just minutes before he was gunned down. An eyewitness had stated that Haywood was attacked in an alleyway leading to his yard.
In a bid to escape his killer, he reportedly started to run but the gunman gave chase, firing more shots at him in the process. Some of those bullets struck Haywood causing him to eventually collapse on Drysdale Street.
Following the execution, the police had issued a wanted bulletin for the suspect who was later nabbed on a fuel boat destined for ‘Devil Hole’, a mining area located in the jungle of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni, Region Seven. It was reported that while in custody he confessed to killing Haywood.
Pollard, Christopher, Fagundes, and Haywood were executed between February 2021 and April 2021 and two persons were executed this month, Jaleel Leow and Euclid Erian Da Silva.
On August 2, 2021, around 17:50hrs, along B-Field, South Sophia, Greater Georgetown, Leow was gunned down.
According to police, the suspect whipped out a handgun while approaching Leow from behind and fired several rounds, two of which impacted his back. However, not satisfied with the two discharged rounds, the gunman stood over him and shot him two more times to the chest.
Investigators were told that Leow somehow managed to get up and escape but had collapsed in the back of Felicia’s yard and died.
The gunman then turned his attention to Brandon Smith, Loew’s friend and fired a shot at him too but the bullet only managed to graze his right arm before he had an opportunity to escape. Leow’s killers then rode away on their bicycles, but not before turning to Felicia and saying, “We gun kill all ya’ll one by one. You gun be de las one we kill.”
The suspects who allegedly murdered him go by the aliases of ‘Big John,’ ‘Double Clip’ and ‘Brainer.’ This newspaper understands that they were also involved in the killing of Kevin Campbell, the brother of Smith, to which, Smith and Leow were witnesses.
In the most recent execution, a Brazilian businessman and his friend were shot execution-style, on Tuesday night around 22:00hrs, while sitting in a parked vehicle in front of Shamdas Kirpalani, between Camp and Wellington Streets, Georgetown.

It is believed that the businessman and his friend were in search of a location to purchase some fast food that evening. CCTV footage showed that a heavily tinted white car pulled behind the pick-up and two men dressed in black hoodies stepped out with high-powered rifles. They flanked the pick-up, one on the right side where the friend was seated and another on the left side where Da Silva was seated and opened fire.
After riddling the vehicle and men with bullets, they re-entered their car and sped off east along Regent Street. A security guard from a nearby building recalled that all he heard was rapid gunfire, and when he rushed out, he saw a crowd gathering around the parked pick-up.
Da Silva was pronounced dead on the scene, while his associate was transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), where he remains in critical condition. Based on reports reaching this media house, he arrived at the hospital in a conscious state but had lost a lot of blood. Photos of the wounded man receiving treatment showed that he was shot multiple times to his arms, face, and legs.
It appeared that some of the bullets might have exited because there were visible exit holes on his arms. The detectives are still trying to ascertain the wounded man’s identity.
Moreover, Da Silva has had a shady past, including being wanted by the police in Brazil for drug trafficking in the late 1990s. He was arrested in Guyana ten years ago and was fighting extradition claiming to be Guyanese.

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