Berbice crime wave…Four murders, two armed robberies in Berbice over the past 2 weeks
By Leon Suseran
There has been a spike in serious crimes in Berbice. Over the past two weeks, there have been four murder/robberies. There have also been two daring daylight armed robberies, both of which resulted in the occupants being badly beaten and terrorized. Interestingly, all of the criminal activities over the past two weeks have been centered on the Corentyne coast. Those dead are rice miller Lallapersaud ‘Lall’ Jaggerdeo, who was shot dead on the night of September 10 at his home in Number 51 Village; shopkeeper Abdul Majid, 79, of Lot 12 ‘A’, Number 70 Village; Ravindranauth ‘Parbattie Bucket’ Chan, 54, of Lancaster; and Yadram ‘Muff’ Jaggai, 36, of Rambharose Street, Number 48 Village.
Murdered Berbicians over the past two weeks; Robbery victim, Totanarine Nandalall is with bandaged head.
Except for the murder of Chan, police have thus far come up empty- handed in solving the others. Chan’s battered body was found two Thursdays ago in an abandoned house in Lancaster. He shared the house with the suspect, Totaram ‘Ramesh’ Edwards, 49, popularly called ‘Rasta man’ of Lancaster who was charged on Monday with murder and appeared at the Whim Magistrate’s Court. He has been remanded to prison until October 14, 2013. Meanwhile, even though police have conducted raids in Rose Hall Town and held two identification parades at Springlands Police Station in connection with Majid’s death, no one is currently in custody nor has anyone been charged for that murder. Majid and his wife were attacked by at least four persons who had visited the shop under the pretext of making a purchase. Majid was found in his store with his feet bound with electrical cord around 10:30 hrs two Sundays ago. A sum of cash and a quantity of jewellery were reported to have been stolen. Regarding the Corentyne rice-miller murder, the son of Juggerdeo, Basant Jaggerdeo, said that he was visited by President Donald Ramotar two Saturdays ago who expressed condolences and promised to have the police work assiduously to find the killers. Bandits stormed his Number Nought Village home on September 10 shortly after 19:45 hrs. The elderly man was responding to a commotion in the bottom flat of his residence when one of the gunmen discharged a round which hit him. Five bandits entered the bottom flat where some of Jaggerdeo’s relatives were relaxing around 19:45 hours. He died before he could receive medical attention. Also, police have released the three suspects that were held in the case involving the death of Jaggai whose bloody corpse was in a state of decomposition. It was discovered in his home just after 16:30 hrs last Saturday. The man’s reputed wife, his landlord, and police turned up and found a pool of blood in the kitchen and the body lying in the bottom house. He had crawled some distance before he died. Additionally, police recovered an ice- pick from the crime scene. The three friends of Jaggai, who were arrested, were released a few days ago. Then there were the armed robberies. A Fyrish lumberyard proprietrix, Chanmonie Soodoo, 47, was beaten and robbed on September 17 by two men who visited the business place under the guise of customers and later escaped with an undisclosed sum of cash. The incident occurred at 168 Courtland Road, Fyrish, around 11:00 hrs. And last Saturday, a lone gunman stormed into a home around 10:15 hrs at Alness, Corentyne and brutally attacked one of the occupants, Totanarine Nandalall, 36, of Lot 51 Alness Public Road during a terrifying ordeal. His mother, Hansranie Nandalall, was also beaten. The man was badly beaten in his face and about his body by the masked gunman, who also fired a shot into the roof of the house. All he was able to put his hands on were $6,000 which the Nandalalls had in a wallet. The bandit also escaped with a cell phone. No arrests have been made in that case. Police figures reveal that there have been 31 murders since the beginning of July last – eleven within the last three weeks in Guyana, four of them in Berbice alone.
