Man arrested in connection with son’s killing claims innocence

Jul 26, 2023 News

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Kaieteur News – A 70-year-old city businessman who was detained by police for questioning in connection to son’s killing has written a letter to Kaieteur News claiming that he has nothing do with his son’s death.

The businessman, Rajendra Deonauth also known as Rudolph Deonauth, was detained on July 12, 2023 after he had found his son, Nakema Deonauth also called Damendra or Dimitri dead at an apartment building on Cummings Street, Georgetown.

According to reports received by Kaieteur News, the senior Deonauth was arrested at the scene for behaving disorderly, however, in his letter, the businessman wrote that a security guard and street vendor had allegedly told the police that he had killed his son and the ranks reportedly took the accusation seriously.

“As soon as the police arrived, one of the men who identified himself as a security guard and is also a street vendor, told the police I had killed my son,” Deonauth wrote while adding that that the accused rushed into the apartment and found him with his son’s body because he had left the door unlocked for the Emergency Medical Team on board the ambulance to enter.

“I learned later that the police seemed to take his accusation seriously,” stated the businessman.

Deonauth claimed that he had last seen his son alive on 09:00hrs on Sunday, June 11, 2023. The businessman claimed that he would normally pick his son up in the mornings for breakfast.

“On Sunday, June 11, I went to my son’s place around 9 am. I left about 10 minutes later (Damendra said he was tired and not hungry). Damendra walked me to the outside street door and we said goodbye,” claimed Deonauth.

He recounted that that on June 12 he went to pick up Nameka for breakfast but did not get any response from his son after calling out for him and banging loudly on his apartment door.

The businessman said that he did not have a phone on him and left the apartment building and headed to his store to wait on his wife so that he could use her phone to make contact with his son’s landlord.

“I then called the landlady, whom I will designate as Ms. XX to protect her privacy. I explained that something seemed wrong with Damendra (Nakema) and I needed to get in his apartment,” wrote Deonauth.

The landlord reportedly gave him a spare key to his son’s apartment and he went ahead opened only to find Nakema dead.

Deonauth said, “I pushed the door and saw Damendra’s body lying on the floor blocking the door; his face was in downward position”.

The man claimed that he turned over his son’s body and immediately tried to revive him with mouth to mouth resuscitation after seeing blood oozing from his nose.

“There was a black and blue bump on his forehead, his face was also black and blue and his arms and legs were discoloured,” recounted the businessman.

He asked his wife to send ambulance to the apartment and unlocked the door for them to come as he tried to revive his son.

Shortly after the ambulance arrived and the EMT pronounced his son dead, the police arrived to take over the investigation.

He added that he asked the ranks to take his son to a hospital and after they reportedly were not interested in doing so he “lashed out at them”.

“I was experiencing levels of stress so far above what I had ever experienced in my life of 70 years.  And no one was listening to me. So, I lashed out at the police. One policeman then told me, “Ok, big man I will show you what a little boy can do” and they grabbed me and took me downstairs,” Deonauth alleged.

“As soon as we got outside, they put handcuffs on me in front of all the passersby and onlookers, and put me in a police car. That was around 10 am. I was kept in the car until about 2:30-3 pm, after when the police took me to the Alberttown Police Station,” continued the businessman.

According to the letter he wrote, he was asked to give a statement at the Alberttown Police Station and was then taken to Brickdam Police Station and reportedly locked up for 72 hours before being released on station bail following his lawyer’s intervention. Deonauth said he was called back to station twice since his release for questioning in relation to the statement he gave.

As he claimed his innocence, Deonauth in his letter said that being treated as a criminal by the Police Force which resulted in the media labeling him a murderer is a very devastating experience especially while mourning his son’s death.

“I had lost my son and I was being treated like criminal. It was completely devastating. I didn’t know how to grieve because I didn’t understand what was happening to me and why I was being treated this way,” Deonauth said while adding that it has also tarnished his reputation.

“This has cost me my reputation, not only in Guyana but abroad. People in the US, Canada, the UK and India have asked about this. I have never had a problem with the law in my life. People I have known for 30 years and people who I thought knew me, now question me. My reputation that I have guarded all my life is now tarnished,” he wrote.

As it relates to Nakema’s death police are still conducting an investigation.

An autopsy conducted on his remains had revealed that he was beaten to death. According to the autopsy results, Deonauth died from brain hemorrhage (bleeding in the brain) due to blunt force trauma to the head. The fatal hit to the head was further compounded by compression injuries to the neck meaning that his killer might have choked or attempted to strangle him.

Police told Kaieteur News that the doctor who performed the autopsy opined that his “fatal injuries were caused by either cuffs or a hit with a hard object”.

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• investigation, murder, Nakema Deonauth, police force, Rajendra Deonauth

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