82 murders, 102 road fatalities recorded in 1st half of 2023

The Guyana Police Force has recorded an increase in the number of murders reported in the first half of 2023, while also revealing that fatalities on the country’s roadways during this same period have surpassed 100.
For the period January 1 to June 29, 2023, the GPF said 82 murders were recorded when compared to 60 during the same period in 2022.
Among the murders in the first half of this year, 33 were domestic related; 32 stemmed from disorderly behaviour and two execution-style killings.
In addition, six of those murders were committed during the course of robberies, while the remaining nine murders are of unknown causes.
Two of the murders which stemmed from robbery were those of 87-year-old Johnson Bowen and his son-in-law Emmanuel Dos Santos, 58, both of Block 22 Wismar, Linden.
Bowen and Dos Santos were brutally killed, allegedly by bandits in the latter part of May. It was reported that another family member, Denzel Roberts, 20, was shot in the mouth and remains in critical condition.

Days prior to the incident, Dos Santos had reportedly returned from working in the interior, thus leading the bandit to believe that he had gold and cash in the house. However, the bandits only escaped with a laptop and some other items.
Two of the suspects were later arrested at a hideout in Linden while the body of Anthony Dennis, who is believed to be one of the suspects, was found. The Police had later issued a wanted bulletin for Travis Bruce called “Backa” for questioning in relation to the murder. To date, Shadwin Semple was charged and remanded to prison for the murders.
Meanwhile, with regard to traffic statistics, the Police Force reported that some 102 road fatalities were recorded within the first six months of this year. During this period, there were 65 fatal accidents from which some 75 persons died.
Between January to June, fatal incidents on the roadways amounted to 24, resulting in the deaths of another 27 persons. The 102 road fatalities in the first half of 2023 is compared to 77 recorded during the same period last year.
However, while the Police’s statistics covered up to June 29, another fatal accident occurred on Friday, June 30, on the Leonora Public Road, West Coast Demerara, involving two motorcycles, which led to the death of 26-year-old Muneshwar Singh of Cornelia Ida, WCD.
Back in December 2022, the Police reported that some 122 homicides were recorded, with a 19 per cent reduction in serious crimes in 2022 compared to 2021.