The battered body of a fisherman was on Wednesday morning found in front of a grocery shop in Crabwood Creek, Corentyne, Berbice.
The dead man has been identified as 40-year-old Sahadeo Sankar, also called “Gojan” of Crabwood Creek. He was allegedly beaten to death before sunrise.
The body was found in a pool of blood in front of Annirude’s Grocery store at Grant, Corentyne. Police were able to arrest the suspect and then showed him the video (surveillance) footage of him committing the act.
Dead: Sahadeo Sankar, also called “Gojan”
Surveillance footage revealed that Sankar ran across the road while being pursued by the suspect, who hit him several times to the upper body. Moments later, he fell to the ground. While details of what may have led to the murder are still sketchy, residents of the community say that at about 05:00h on Wednesday, the man’s body was not in front of the shop.
The man is said to have been living in an old car which was parked a short distance from where his body was discovered.
Sister-in-law of the deceased, Shamwattie Suedatt, said often times persons would beat Sankar. According to Suedatt, after the surveillance footage was viewed by the Police, the suspect was arrested.
She said the suspect was taken to the Springlands Police Station and later taken back to see the footage which showed him chasing Sankar and lashing him with what appeared to be a piece of wood.
Suedatt explained that her brother-in-law was a frequent consumer of alcohol and had not been providing for his family. At time, he was employed as a cane harvester. After the couple separated and the father of one was put out of the home, he started sleeping in abandoned buildings and he started to consume more alcohol. “He turn a ‘junkie’, and then he would go out with his brother, who is my husband, to catch fish. Sometimes he would sleep in the boat or just go wherever he could sleep,” she said.
The car in which the deceased used to live in
Meanwhile, the suspect who is called “Chatu” gave Police a confession statement admitting to hitting Sankar on Wednesday morning.
The sister-in-law told this publication that she knew the suspect for several years. “He does go out with them and catch fish too. He is a ‘Junkie’; the two of them is friend and does go all about drinking rum.”
Meanwhile, residents in the area told Guyana Times that on many occasions persons would go pass the car as he slept and lash him with whatever they had in their hand.
Azeez Khan who lives on the same street in which the car is parked, explained that Sankar had moved into the abandoned vehicle about two months ago. According to Khan, he knew Sankar for several years. “He turn a ‘Junkie’ since he and his wife separate,” the man said.
Police are currently making arrangements to have charges implemented against the suspect.
