Berbice boat builder drowning: Family refutes Police report, decries “inaccuracies”

Days after a Berbice boat builder drowned at Number 65 Village, Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), family members are calling for justice after refuting the Police report about the incident.
Family members of the late Tamesh Takurdin are unhappy with inaccuracies in the public domain about the boat builder’s death last Wednesday. They are objecting to the Police report which stated that at least three persons were in the boat when it allegedly overturned just before the mouth of a canal leading to the Corentyne River.
The Police release had said that 22-year-old Takurdin, a fisherman of Number 65 Village, along with three other fishermen, were in a boat last Wednesday when the boat reportedly capsized and as a result, the young man disappeared into the water and his lifeless body was found some 90 minutes later.
However, relatives of the dead man said that he was not a fisherman but worked at the waterfront as a boat builder.

His employer, Bhimmankarin Singh, who was overseeing the work that day, said he was at the waterfront when Takurdin left on the speedboat.
Family members had previously told Guyana Times that Takurdin did not want to go on the boat for a test ride and was shouting for the captain to return him to land.
However, his employer claimed that Takurdin would have been happy to go for the ride, pointing out that it was something that they looked forward to whenever they got the opportunity.
“Normally when we finish fixing a boat and we push them down in the water, me and he would have some fun with the boat, but that day – I don’t know if it was a mistake or what – that day, I was going with him and he turned and told me not to come, because my shoulder was hurting. He said that I could injure my shoulder again…” he recalled.
“Nobody don’t drink and come to the work site. I don’t encourage them to drink and work on people boat. The only person that drink was the driver for the boat that day. I can’t say what happened because about five minutes after, I hear that a boat turned over. When the boat push off and going to the creek, Tamesh was right here next to me. Sometimes when we push down a boat we would ask the captain to give us a little spin… to see [if] it leaking, but that day only Tamesh went with him, and then a little after the captain come back and ask for help,” Singh recounted.
He claimed that the report by the Police that Takurdin and three other persons were in the boat was inaccurate, as it was only Takurdin and the captain who had left in the boat.
Takurdin’s job that day was to repair the leaks in the speedboat. It was after it was completed that he joined the captain on the test ride, which turned out to be fatal.
Jennifer Kewley, who also works at the landing, was part of the crew that was searching for Takurdin when his body was found and was pulled from the water.
“Well, they had about 12 persons out there searching and then the Police came and joined us and they took some pictures from the area where the boat toppled over, and then “Ravi” dive under the water and find the boy,” she stated.
She denied the allegation that the now dead man was under the influence of alcohol at the time of that fatal ride.
“They are saying that the boy was drunk and working; the boy didn’t drink. Me and him were making joke and I run him with a piece of pipe – we were playing. He don’t smoke and he don’t drink. The driver for the boat was drunk. He was drinking at the bar at Number 67 Village Bar since morning,” Kewley alleged.
Family members are calling for justice. The dead man’s father, Omarpersaud Takurdin, who works at the sugar estate as a labourer, says since the captain of the boat was released from Police custody, he has not engaged the family.
“I have to get justice for my son, because [the captain] drink his rum and take my son in the boat and go and kill him in this creek here,” the grieving father alleged.
Meanwhile, Radika Ramanandan, the grandmother of the dead boat builder, focused on the owner of the speedboat which overturned while on a test run.
“He [Takurdin] is not a fisherman, he is a boat builder; we need justice for him. I want to know how is it that the owner for the boat can send a man who is drunk to drive his boat. You can’t send somebody [under] the influence of alcohol to test drive your boat. I would like the Police Commander of our region to ensure that the Police investigate this matter very seriously,” she said.
The Police say the investigation is still active. Meanwhile, an autopsy conducted on the body of Takurdin gave his cause of death as asphyxia and drowning.