A strange kind of justice

By Michael Jordan

I’ve told you some strange stories before, and now I’ll tell you about a case in which a suspected killer and his son both dropped dead, within a five-year span, without anyone laying a finger on them. And if you’re brushing this off as mere coincidence, let me tell you that one of these men actually drew his last breath on the victim’s death anniversary, and around the same hour that this victim’s body was found. Justice from a higher power? Death by guilty conscience? I just don’t know, so I’ll just lay out the facts and let you judge. The victim in this case was a harmless, likeable, elderly woman named Rajkumarie Mahadeo. If you’ve been following my cases, then you may remember her. Seventy-eight-year-old Mrs. Mahadeo had had her fair share of tragedy. Her husband, Mohabir Mahadeo, was murdered during pre-elections violence in 1973; her 18-year-old grandson, Trevor Fung, was slain by robbers on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2004.

Rajkumarie Mahadeo and her daughter Devi Fung

But she managed to successfully raise her family, and they, in turn, took every chance to show their appreciation for her sacrifices. In December 2009, Mrs. Mahadeo received the news that one of her daughters was coming from overseas for the Christmas holidays. The daughter promised that she would take Mrs. Mahadeo to the United States for a vacation. This would be her first trip to America, and the elderly woman was excited. “She was like a young kid, all so excited, and was sharing the good news,” Devi Fung, one of her daughters, recalled. “Her only concern was who would take care of her beloved cows.” Rajkumarie Mahadeo lived alone at Lusignan, and was in the habit of rising early to tend to her cows. At around 05: 45 hrs on Christmas Eve Day 2009, Mrs. Mahadeo’s son, who lived nearby, responded to a call from a resident. That call caused him to hurry over to his mother’s house. There, he found Rajkumarie Mahadeo lying dead on the parapet outside her yard. She was still wearing two gold rings and gold earrings, while her two silver bangles were found nearby. The son reportedly observed blood on a nearby pasture where Mahadeo tended to her cows. One of the animals was found entangled in a rope, and a neighbour reportedly suggested that this cow had kicked the elderly woman while she was tending to it. But not for one minute did the family believe this suggestion. One grandson who was at the scene saw Mrs. Mahadeo’s silver bangle and slippers on the road, and told the policemen that to him, this indicated that his grandmother and someone had struggled. A post mortem eventually confirmed the family’s suspicions. Someone had strangled Rajkumarie Mahadeo. But the killer or killers had made no attempt to steal anything. The motive, Mahadeo’s relatives believed then, and still firmly believe, was one of envy and spite. And it all may have stemmed from an old grievance, when Mrs. Mahadeo provided information on a theft that was committed by a Lusignan resident. That information led to the resident being jailed, and Mrs. Mahadeo’s relatives believe that the convicted man’s brother, and other family members, harboured a grudge. According to some of her relatives, the elderly woman had confided that someone in the community was in the habit of stoning her house. And during a visit a few days before her death, she had told those relatives that a man in the neighbourhod had threatened her life. They also allege that during Mrs. Mahadeo’s wake, a resident, whose brother was a ‘junkie,’ told them that his ‘junkie’ sibling had confessed that the man with whom Mahadeo had the dispute had given him rum and money to buy drugs. This was reportedly given as payment for the ‘junkie’ to threaten Mrs. Mahadeo. “He (the brother) told us he warned his brother not to go by our mother again,” one of Mahadeo’s daughters said. “He told us that if he found out that his brother had anything to do with our mother’s death; he will not have anything to do with him again.” On the day of Mrs. Mahadeo’s funeral, police detained an individual from the family with whom the victim had a dispute. They also arrested the ‘junkie’ who was allegedly paid to harass Mrs. Mahadeo. Devi Fung, Mahadeo’s daughter, said that it was then that “hell broke loose.” “Our neighbour’s sons went wild, stoning my mother’s house and threatening to take us down one by one before we left the country. We were verbally abused by one of the sons in the presence of the police at Vigilance Station.” But in less than six hours, the first man was reportedly released, while the ‘junkie’ was released after 72 hours. Mrs. Mahadeo’s relatives allege that it was then that they found out that the son of the man allegedly behind her harassment had considerable influence with the investigators. “The police said they never had chance to question him. Half an hour later, some high-ranking official called and instructed that he be released,” one relative claimed. And according to this relative, a senior police official from Georgetown had reassured that a report on the case was with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), but an official from the DPP’s office refuted this. The relative said he again contacted the senior police official, who promised to get back to him, but never did. Frustrated at the apparent indifference by investigators, Rajkumarie Mahadeo’s relatives posted a reward for information about her death. “There were a few calls that led to a dead end. The police never actually followed on any of the information given to them.  They said the people were only out to get the reward money,” Devi Fung said. If those men did kill Rajkumarie Mahadeo, it appears that this crime weighed on their consciences and loosened one man’s tongue. It is alleged that about two years ago, a relative of Mahadeo’s overheard the ‘junkie,’ while under the influence of alcohol, admit to killing Mrs. Mahadeo. The addict is said to have also claimed that the man who was detained with him had acted as a lookout while the crime was being committed. This information was reportedly passed on to police ranks, who said that the man had made the claim while he was drunk, and let it go at that. But a few months after Mrs. Mahadeo’s death, the number one suspect reportedly “began talking to himself” and eventually dropped dead in a rum shop. It didn’t end there. “Now, five years later, last Christmas Eve morning, around the same time that my mother was supposed to have been killed, I found out that the oldest son of the number one suspect died suddenly,” Mahadeo’s daughter, Devi Fung said, when I contacted her recently. “I never really knew how much connections this family had, and how that may have influenced or hindered the investigation into my mother’s death. In fact, I know it did.  In Guyana, it is not about justice, it is who you know and how much bribe you are willing to give. This is how the justice system works in Guyana.  It is all about who you know.” Devi Fung says she has “mixed feelings” about the strange fate of the suspect and his son. “How do we feel about what happened to the two suspects only a few months after our mom passed away? I really don’t know how to answer that, I personally have mixed feelings. Someone took their two hands and choked the life out of our mother. Who, we don’t know for sure. “I know the now deceased suspect had paid the junkie to torment and threaten her. Would he, out of envy, also go further to get her killed after he found out she was going on a vacation? Was he that evil? I do not have the answer.  Only God knows the truth.  Now, with the recent death of his oldest son on Christmas Eve morning, five years later, same day as my mom, only not by murder, I don’t know what to think. “Why not another day? Why Christmas Eve morning? I knew this young man as a baby, and the entire family, and even though they did not show us any compassion while we were and are still grieving from the loss of our mother, my heart goes out to them. “I feel the pain his entire family is going through, especially his mother and children. At least they know he died a natural death. “Every time we think of our  mother and the way she  died, we  know she did not deserve to die that way and have been trying to get  answers, so we just can’t help asking:  Is the universe trying to send us a message or is it a coincidence?  We will never know.” If you have any further information on this or any other case, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown office. We can also be reached on telephone numbers 22-58458, 22-58465, 22-58473 or 22-58491. You need not disclose your identity. You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address: mjdragon@hotmail.com