Three charged with murder of Chinese shopkeeper

Mar 21, 2024 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Remanded to prison Darvy Diaz De Costa, Oscar Alside Scanio and Pharrell Prince Adelph

Kaieteur News – Three men were on Wednesday charged with the murder of a Chinese businessman last week at Eteringbang, Region Seven.

Twenty-three-year-old Darvy Diaz De Costa, 50-year-old Oscar Alside Scanio, and 19-year-old Pharrell Prince Adelph, all made their first court appearance before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty and were not required to plea to the capital offence charge.

The charge read alleges that on March 14, 2024, whilst in the course or furtherance of a robbery, they murdered Lisong Yang at Eteringbang Landing, Cuyuni River, Region Seven. The case was transferred to the Kamarang Magistrate’s Court, with the next court date set for April 24, 2024 for disclosure of statements.

This publication had reported that on March 14, 2024 around 14:00hrs, the trio allegedly slaughtered Yang and seriously injured his wife, Wen Shuping, after invading their supermarket at Eteringbang. According to reports, police say three persons were involved, while according to residents on the ground, it might have been five persons. Residents claimed that three of the men acted as lookouts, while two went into the supermarket to commit the heinous crime.

They said too that the Chinese man’s wife’s, life might have been saved by an alert customer. They claimed that the customer went to the supermarket to make a purchase and saw that it was locked. It was reportedly against the norm for the supermarket to be closed that early, so the customer reportedly asked some men she saw outside ‘why the Chinese lock-up’. While they were responding, she reportedly heard “strange sounds” coming from inside and she realized that something was amiss. Kaieteur News was told that the customer left but immediately alerted the owner of the building that the Chinese Nationals who were renting the supermarket seemed to be in trouble and urged the owner to check on them.

He then alerted police and ranks were sent immediately to the location. Kaieteur News was told that when the men in front saw police approaching, they fled, while alerting the two inside the building. Ranks entered and caught the suspects inside and found the Chinese man murdered and his wife injured. Kaieteur News understands that they had tied up the couple and slit the man’s throat and had started cutting his wife’s face.