“I feel pleased I kill he now” – suspect in murder of WCB pensioner tells brother

The prime suspect in the murder of 68-year-old Surijdeo Deochand, also called “Sarjee”, had reportedly confessed to his brother that he murdered the pensioner as revenge for the gruesome deaths of his brother, Joel Henry, and his cousin, Isaiah Henry.

Mark Anthony Henry surrendered to the Police on Wednesday shortly after they had issued a wanted bulletin for his arrest in relation to the murder.
His brother, Hencosey Henry has since told detectives during interrogation that his brother had admitted to killing the pensioner on March 30, 2021 at his Number Three Village, West Coast Berbice (WCB) home.
He detailed that he was at home when he received a telephone call from his sister, who informed him that the suspect, Mark, was behaving in a disorderly manner. He was reportedly “pelting bricks” at the now dead man’s house.
As such, he confronted his brother who was at the time armed with a cutlass yelling “dem kill we brother and we ain’t get justice”.
The suspect reportedly attacked his brother, but he managed to pin him to the ground for a short period. The man managed to escape and ran to Number Four Village, WCB.
Further, the brother told the Police that after Mark ran away, he went to the home of the now deceased man where he observed blood on the ground.
Guyana Times was told that based on Police investigations, on the day in question, the suspect was in the company of others consuming alcohol, but left after spending some time.
Police investigations further revealed that about 17:03h, Mark Henry returned to the drinking spot wearing a pair of blue three-quarter pants and was bare-footed.
The pants reportedly had spots of blood while his back and feet had red sand. At the time, he was armed with a 12-inch cutlass with chipped edges and shouted at the top of his voice, “ I just chop up that one Sarjee…I chop out he neck and face… he kill me brother and now I feel pleased I kill he now.”
A file is being prepared to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for legal advice on the way forward.
The pensioner’s bloodied body was discovered in his home on Tuesday with multiple chop wounds.
It was reported that a relative had gone to check on Deochand, who lived alone, after she received information that he had been chopped and needed to be taken to the hospital to seek medical attention. When the relative arrived at the elderly man’s house, she reportedly called out to him, but there was no answer.
The woman then pushed open the main door and found Deochand lying in a pool of blood with several chops to his body. He was taken to the Fort Wellington Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Police later confirmed that there was one wound on the left side of his face, one to the back of his head, one to the side of his left hand, and one on the right hand which completely severed three fingers.
Deochand had been among a group of men initially arrested in September last year after the mutilated bodies of 16-year-old Isaiah Henry and 19-year-old Joel Henry were discovered in the backlands of Cotton Tree, WCB – almost two days after they had left their Number Three Village home to pick coconuts.
Nineteen-year-old Akash Singh, called “Monkey,” of Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo (EBE); his stepbrother, 33-year-old Anil Sancharra, called “Dan Pole” and “Rasta,” of D’Edward Village, WCB; and 34-year-old Vinod Gopaul, called “Magga”, of Yakusari, Black Bush Polder, Corentyne, Berbice were charged for the brutal murders of the Henry cousins.
The murders of the Henry cousins had sparked protests across several villages along the WCB corridor, where commuters were beaten and robbed. With roads blocked, some vehicles were also torched.
Then days later, on September 9, 17-year-old Haresh Singh was found murdered at the Number Three Village backlands. It is suspected that his death was in retaliation for the murders of Isaiah and Joel, since he was related to one of the persons initially held by the Police for the cousins’ murders.
However, the Police are yet to make any breakthrough in that case.
According to the confession from Singh, the murder of the Henry cousins stemmed from a destroyed ganja farm in the West Berbice backlands.