C’tyne shopkeeper, 79, found bound, murdered
- wife observed persons video-taping home
By Leon Suseran
Just three days after Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell urged citizens “not to press the panic button” over the recent surge in violent crime, the bound body of an elderly Corentyne shopkeeper has been found.
Murdered: 79-yr-old Abdul Majid
Abdul Majid, 79, of Lot 12 ‘A’, Number 70 Village, Corentyne, was found in his store with his feet tied with a length of electrical cord at around 10:30 hrs yesterday. A sum of cash and a quantity of jewellery is reported to have been stolen, police said.
Reports indicate that Majid and his wife were attacked by at least four persons who had visited the shop under the pretext of making a purchase.
The victim and his wife, Kamrun Nesha Majid, operated a small shop which sells mechanical and electrical spares to rice farmers and tractor owners in the Upper Corentyne area. The store had been in operation for the past nine years. It was located in a separate building from the victim’s home.
Mrs. Majid suggested that the men who killed her husband were individuals who had been scouring the area in recent weeks. She told Kaieteur News that she had observed, on several occasions, four men pulling up with a minibus, video- taping the premises.
Mrs. Majid alleged that she had informed ranks at the Springlands Police Station about the suspicious activities, but was told that police needed the licence number of the vehicle. The woman said that she was unable to provide this information.
According to Mrs. Majid, three of the men visited the shop around 10:30 hrs on Saturday and “bring a couple of rusty bolts and wanted ones just like that. So, when I saw them I told my husband that they looked like thieves because they came and video the place before. Four times they came and were videoing”, she stated.
She said that fearing the men, the couple told them that they did not have the items, and the men left. But she said that at around 10:00 hrs yesterday, the three individuals returned with the same rusty bolts. Mrs. Majid did not see them enter the yard as their shop was closed. All she heard was a knock at her door.
Mrs. Majid standing next to the tumbled area in the shop where her husband’s body was found
“They rapped at the door—but if I had answered I would have seen them—they were calling ‘Uncle Majid’…and my husband walked around the back door and tended to them.”
But suspecting nothing, Mrs. Majid said that she continued her morning chores in the kitchen. Meanwhile, her husband allegedly went across to the shop, opened the door and was searching for bolts for the men.
It was then that someone suddenly grabbed her from behind, while another accomplice stood by with a knife.
“He hold the knife and told the other one to ‘bore she!’”
“They said they wanted all the money and that my house is full of money…and they pulled me and brought me in the room and tumbled up good and carried me upstairs…they had just a knife—I saw their faces…I know them…it was the same people [who were videoing].”
“They told me not to holler and that they will kill me if I only keep noise.” Mrs. Majid said that the bandits demanded cash and jewellery and she handed over about US$2,000 as well as over 120,000 in local currency and six gold bangles and two gold chains. Additionally, she directed the bandits to eight pairs of earrings in the room.
“Then they wanted more—they were shaking me and telling me that this place got too much money and they were arguing!” According to Mrs. Majid, the robbers gagged and bound her with strips of cloth.
She added that one of the bandits told the others that “time is up— let’s go—if you all want to kill her, then kill her…come let’s go and they pulled one another and left.” She said the entire ordeal lasted twenty minutes.
The home and adjoining shop building
Mrs. Majid said that she eventually freed herself and, along with a neighbor, rushed across to the shop. There, they found her husband lying lifeless on the floor, “and he lay down flat—they tied his foot with a wire…he wasn’t responding.”
She said that her spouse’s body bore no visible marks of violence. But she believes that the men strangled him with one of the drop-cords that were on sale. Mr. Majid’s body was taken to the Skeldon Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The woman stated that had she known it was the same visitors who came on Saturday to purchase bolts, she would have sounded an alarm for help, but she had no idea. “I would have locked the back door and holler,” she added.
According to Ms. Majid, the bandits left behind a haversack containing a black piece of cloth with pieces of string. These items, including the electric cable, were confiscated yesterday by the detectives who visited the crime scene and took statements.
Mr. Majid leaves to mourn his wife and two daughters, Safya and Bibi, both residing overseas. It should be noted that Mr. Majid also owned a licenced fire arm.
The murder occurred less than a week after Lala Persaud Jagadeo, a 73-year-old rice miller, was shot dead after bandits stormed his Number 55 Village, Corentyne home.
According to reports, 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. His killers are yet to be arrested.
