Boyfriend arraigned for murder of pregnant teen

Body pulled from Berbice River

Twenty-two-year-old Dickwan Nigel Adams was on Friday arraigned for the murder of his pregnant teenage girlfriend when he appeared before Magistrate Wanda Fortune at the Linden Magistrate’s Court.

Adams, of New Amsterdam, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), was not required to plea to the indictable charge which alleged that between June 17 and 18, 2020, at Gateroy Village, Upper Berbice River, he murdered Melissa “Lisa” Soman.
As such, he was remanded to prison until August 7, 2020, when he is scheduled to make his next court appearance at the Kwakwani Magistrate’s Court, Upper Berbice River.
Days after the incident, the accused had confessed to the heinous crime during Police interrogation.

He reportedly told detectives that an argument erupted between him and the mother of one during which he assaulted her. In a bid to escape, the young woman jumped overboard and never surfaced.
He accused Soman of Lot 58 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam, Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), of being unfaithful with a relative.
It was reported that the suspect’s uncle, who was the captain of the boat at the time the woman jumped to her death, initially told investigators that Soman confided in him about the constant fights between his nephew and her.
He noted that after the teen plunged overboard, the suspect went to save her but it was too late. The 48-year-old labourer was nevertheless taken into custody shortly after the girl’s lifeless body was discovered.
However, the suspect in his confession to the police claimed that he had found out about the teen’s infidelity and started beating her while travelling in the small wooden boat.
He told Police that the now dead teen jumped overboard to save herself from him but the boat captain rescued her.
He admitted that as they reentered the boat, he beat both of them and for the second time, the teen plunged overboard but the result was different this time around. Her body was found floating 16 hours later, some 50 miles up the Berbice River.
Soman left her Stanleytown home in March to spend time with her boyfriend and returned briefly for the funeral of her boyfriend’s mother in May. She had left her two-year-old son with her parents.
An autopsy performed on the remains of the dead teenager proved that she drowned and suffered blunt trauma to the head. During the post-mortem, it was revealed that the teen was pregnant.