Berbice mother-son murder: Another person of interest arrested

Members of the Major Crimes Unit (MCU) of the Criminal Investigations Department have arrested a fifth person as the investigations continue into the death of 31-year-old Melissa Arokium and her eight-year-old son Anthony Arokium.
Their bodies were found in different sections of the apartment they lived in situated at Lot 189 Mangrove Street, Rose Hall Town, Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
The woman’s body was discovered lying in a pool of blood on the floor while the child was on his bed, also in a pool of blood, with what appeared to be at least one stab wound to the back of his neck while his mother was seen with what appeared to be chop wounds to the neck, shoulder, and chest.
Police on Wednesday arrested four persons who were subsequently handed over to the Major Crimes Unit, which took over the investigations.
Police later reported that those arrested were persons of interest and identified two of them as being siblings of the deceased woman along with her boyfriend and the fourth was a neighbour.
Police did not disclose the identity of the fifth person.
One of Melissa Arokium’s siblings in custody is said to have discovered the bodies while the other lived in the same building, but in a separate apartment. Arokium operated a small grocery store.
Police said based on initial investigations the crime did not appear to be robbery-related. Meanwhile, neighbours told Guyana Times that the now-dead woman and one of her siblings would frequently get into arguments and he made threats on her life several times. (G4)