2 friends stabbed to death during brawl outside WCD night spot

– 1 arrested, another on the run

By LaWanda McAllister

Two men were in the wee hours of Saturday stabbed to death during a brawl outside of a popular nightclub at Leonora, West Coast of Demerara (WCD). In addition, one of the two suspects also sustained injuries and is presently receiving medical attention under guard.
The two dead men have been identified as 30-year-old Mohamed Kalameeden Nasir, a carpenter of Lot 1 Stewartville, WCD, and 25-year-old Arvinda Roopram, a construction worker of Lot 52 Stewartville, WCD.
Based on reports, Nasir, Roopram, and the two suspects were engaged in a heated argument which subsequently erupted into a scuffle during which they were stabbed about their bodies.

The two suspects, Alex Amsterdam called ‘Mario’, a 28-year-old security guard, received one stab wound to his upper abdomen, while the second suspect, Terry (only name given), made good his escape from the scene in an unknown direction.
Nasir and Roopram were rushed to the Leonora Cottage Hospital by ranks of the Anti-Crime Patrol where they were pronounced dead. In addition, Amsterdam was treated and referred to the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) where he was admitted in a critical state.
On Saturday the Guyana Times visited the homes of the two dead men, where their grief-stricken family members recounted their last moments with their loved ones. At the home of Mohamed Nasir, his reputed wife, Marissa Stephens, shared that she witnessed the entire ordeal and was with her husband in his final moments.

The woman said the incident occurred when she, Nasir, Roopram, and some other friends went to a popular night spot near their home to have a drink.
“We went to drink beers and after the third round, he [Nasir] said that he was ok and that he was ready to go. We tell Roopram, and Roopram walked away from us and he walked over to the hotdog stand. We stood by the step of the bar and we were waiting on him. All of a sudden Roopram started to trouble a girl and a man turned and asked him why he troubling the girl, Roopram turn and asked the man if he wanted to do something about it. At the same time, my boy turned and asked the next man what he gonna do, if he want do Roopram something”, she explained.

“The big scrambling started from down there. I then heard that a boy [that was the other crew] got stabbed, but the boy they were talking about, it the boy that stabbed my boy. I don’t know how that happened and how he got stabbed. After my boy got stabbed, he ran and I ran behind him and he fell down. Right away, I called 911 and they came for he. By the time they reached he didn’t have all the energy to talk to me. All he kept saying was, ‘babe, I going home, I going home”.
Stephens said witnessing her husband’s death has left her in shock and wondering how she will take care of their five children. She said Nasir was the sole breadwinner of the family, and she is left having to wonder about her next move.
“My boy didn’t do anybody anything. He was picking up for his friend and this is what happened. The other boy [Roopram] tried to escape and like four of them run behind him and stabbed him. They ended up finding him at the koker mouth”, Stephens recalled.

“We were planning on repairing our house by buying some zinc since our house is leaking, and putting light in the house since we don’t have light in the house. Now, none of this will come through”.
Meanwhile, Nasir’s father, Mohamed Nasir Sr., calls for justice to be served.
“I saw my son lying dead on that bed with a big hole in his stomach. This is first-degree murder because he stabbed him in his heart. The same place the other guy was stabbed too. That is premeditated murder. My children grew up without a mother now it hurts me that my grandchildren will have to grow up feeling how their father felt as a child, without one of their parents. I need justice for my son”.
On the other hand, at the home of Roopram, his wife, Kesha Richmond, recounted her devastation after learning of her husband’s death. Richmond said she was asleep when she was informed of the stabbing incident and rushed to the hospital, only to hear that her husband was left in a nearby trench.
“I heard that he was at the club with his friend and his friend got into an altercation with some guys and he tried to de-escalate the situation and he became a victim. While his friend was also stabbed, he got the hand of everything. I was told that he tried to run away when everything started escalating and they ran behind him. He tried running to his car and they ran behind him and kept stabbing him”, she said.
“We have a two-year-old daughter and I ran out of the house and I went to the hospital and we saw the police coming in the compound. We thought it was him but it was the other guy, and one of the police officers told us that there was another man in the trench and that we could go and see if that one was of our relative. We went, and his brother had to go search in the water for him and bring him out. They [ the police] knew they were two persons but they just took the one person they saw…”.
Richmond related that her husband’s sudden death has left her clueless about how to move on.
“We have a daughter and all I am thinking is what am I going to tell her because that was her favourite person, she is a daddy’s girl more than anything. I can’t tell her that her daddy went out and he is coming back because he is not. They took his life and it was not easy, they were merciless. They shouldn’t have taken his life. He was just there to squash everything…If you see what they did to him, it was premeditated, and evil. What could cause you to do another human like that?”
“He asked for help, he probably tried to talk them out of it because that is what he is known for…I always warn him to stop trying to make peace because bad things can happen. Now look, that is exactly what happened”.
The woman said she has been with her husband for about five years and now the men who killed him erased everything they had hoped to build in the future. As such, she is also calling for justice.
“They need to be caught and justice needs to be served. They all need to be held accountable for what they did. I am not the only one who is grieving, another man was killed…they didn’t have to go that far. It was their final blow that killed him. The stab wounds were bad… he had on his hands, fingers and they opened his chest”.
Both grieving families are now left to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. Police are continuing their hunt for the second suspect.