Murdered child laid to rest in Berbice
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More than two hundred persons battle the mid-day sun earlier today to pay their last respects to the late Leonard Archibald, the 13-year-old boy who had met a gruesome death at the hands of two men last week.
Many of them called for swift justice and a need for society to be free from paedophiles and rapists, especially those preying on innocent children.
On the sidelines of the funeral proceedings, others recall the gruesome way in which the lad had died while lamenting on their preferred resort to vigilante justice against the perpetrators if it was their child.
Leonard body was discovered on Saturday on a mudflat at Korthberaadt further down the Berbice River after two men that were in police custody confessed to sodomizing the child until he was unconscious and then dumping his body into the river to cover their tracks.
This publication had first reported on the child’s disappearance last Wednesday.
In that report, it was established that 13-year-old Leonard Archibald, a first form student of the Overwinning Secondary school had left home along with his three sisters, to attend a birthday party, one village away from their home.
However, after it became dark, the sisters left the party and met their brother some three houses away from the event on a bicycle.
But rather than joining them, he rode away and told his sisters to continue their walk home, and that he would soon “ketch up” with them.
But upon arriving home the mother of the now missing teen questioned his three sisters about the whereabouts of their brother.
The sisters then told their mother about their last encounter with him, his riding off, and promised to “ketch up” with them.
Nonetheless, the lad did not return home as promised, which subsequently sent the mother into a state of despair as the hours went by.
A search was then launched across several villages by the lad’s family members and other villagers, but they came up empty-handed.
A missing person report was then made at the Sisters Police Station.
Two known child molesters, Nicholas Christopher and Hillary Edwards were also arrested and detained by the police.
But even then, no one knew that they had sexually assaulted and the lad and dumped his body until two days later when they cracked under interrogation and made the startling revelations.
Both men are now expected to be charged with the murder of the teen this week.
