Family of missing fisherman seeking justice

Apr 17, 2022 News

– says Berbice police probe unsatisfactory

By Malisa Playter-Harry

Kaieteur News – It has been 12 days since the body of 52-year-old Kallicharran Mohabir of Lot 14 Ulverston Village, Corentyne, East Berbice disappeared reportedly in the Corentyne River.
Mohabir fell overboard in the Corentyne River some distance away from the Rose Hall foreshore while he was fishing with his boat captain and two others.

Dead, Kallicharran Mohabir

However, as the days elapse, his sister, Gaitree Mohabir, who has been at her wits end, has admitted that she had had thoughts of giving up since there has been no word coming from the police and the owner of the fishing vessel.
Gaitree told this publication that since the incident, there were only two searches and the search party included two of her brothers, a policeman and the other crew members who had gone fishing with her brother. She said the search was conducted on a Wednesday (the day after the incident) and Friday but there has been no search since.
“Me whole skin ah pain me, nothing is coming out of this, nobody not telling us anything. We want justice even if we just get the body to bury it. The police not saying nothing to us, they just leave us and abandoned us and they dragging their foot,” said the woman.
Kaieteur News understands that the captain for the fishing vessel and the other fishermen have since been released from police custody but while efforts were made to confirm this, calls to the Regional Commander, Boodnarine Persaud, went unanswered.

The Corentyne River

According to Gaitree, during the search, one of her brother’s friend indicated to her that a crew member had told them that when Kallicharran fell overboard they stuck a red flag in the location where he fell and attached a seine. She noted, however, “…when me (other) brother tell dem leh dem go search deh, a next crew member seh no, leh we search somewhere else and dem end up and carry me brother them to search till at Rosignol side.”
“Why don’t you want to search there?” she questioned. She added that it has raised a lot of questions in her mind as to what really may have occurred on that fateful day. She said days after the incident, she along with her brothers decided to meet with the Police Commander who had asked whether her brother “ever catch fits (seizures)” since this was the information provided to police by the other crew members while they were in custody. The woman insisted that her brother has no history of seizures.
As such, she is calling on the authorities outside of Berbice to investigate the matter since she is dissatisfied with the way the matter is being handled by Berbice police.
“I want the police to do a better investigation, these men dem release, dem shudda keep them longer in custody because them telling the police me brother catch fits and my brother never had fits before,” she stressed.
Recently, a decomposed body was discovered in the waters at the Dantzig foreshore at Mahaicony. Relatives of the fisherman, Suraj Dhaneshwar, who had fallen overboard near the Bath Settlement foreshore on March 16, 2022, had indicated that the remains could be their relative. However, DNA samples were taken from the remains and relatives, and until those results are returned, only then will it be positively identified.

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