Decomposed body of missing pensioner found along Berbice foreshore

– family members suspect foul play

The decomposed body of 73-year-old Kamaluddin Abrahim, also known as “the brown clothes man”, late resident of Free Yard, Port Mourant, Corentyne, Berbice, has been found along the Port Mourant foreshore on Monday, July 4. He had gone missing on Tuesday, June 28.

The late pensioner had lived alone, but his son Shahazad Abrahim, who resides on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD), would visit him on weekends. However, when he visited on July 1, his father was nowhere to be found. The doors were locked, and his characteristic khaki uniform was found disposed at the back of the house, along with his shoes.
Speaking with Guyana Times, Shahazad noted that he became worried after his father did not return home that evening. As such, he contacted his brother to inform him of the situation, and a missing person’s report was subsequently filed at the Whim Police Station.
Together, the brothers searched for their father, but he was not found. Also, neighbours reported last seeing him four days prior to his son’s visit.
“I started asking his neighbours if they saw him, and basically, everybody I spoke to said they saw him some three to four days before I came…,” Shahazad disclosed. The brothers had also checked at hospitals and in trenches, in case he had fallen into one.
Disturbingly, the family received a call from a funeral home on Monday, informing them that the Police had discovered a body at the Port Mourant foreshore — a place where Kamaluddin would never go.
“That is not a place that my father would ever go. It is a very difficult terrain; very muddy, there is no proper road to go there. My dad had no reason to go there. He was not known for going there…”, the son has stated.
According to him, family members visited the funeral home and positively identified the badly decomposed body as that of the elderly man. At the time of the discovery, Kamaluddin’s body was clad in a pair of long track pants and a T-shirt; which was highly unusual, as he never dressed casually or left the house without reason, according to the grieving son.
“That clothes do not belong to my father. We believe that someone put that on him,” the son has said. Family members suspect foul play was involved in Kamaluddin’s death, and believe that he was murdered.
They say that, in the past, persons would break into his home and steal money and groceries. Shahazad recalled a previous incident that occurred back in March 2022, when his father was brutally beaten, chopped, and robbed by a villager. The accused was later arrested, charged, and remanded to prison for the crime.
It has also been revealed that the elderly man had been expected to testify against a neighbour, and family members believe that his death might be linked to that case.
Following the discovery, a post-mortem examination was conducted, but due to the advanced state of decomposition, the cause of death has been deemed “undetermined.”
Kamaluddin’s family members hope the Police would find the perpetrator(s) responsible for his death, so the family can get some form of closure. (LaWanda McAllister)