The funeral of Ramnarine Itwaru was held on Sunday, and while the family are still trying to come to grips with what happened, they now fear for their safety.
Following the discovery of the body of Itwaru called “Bill”, 38, of Lot 84 Gangaram, Canje, who was found on a dam in the cane field at Speculation, East Canje, on Tuesday, with multiple gunshot wounds, police arrested two men, Ramadolar Shamdundar also called ‘Arnold’, 38, and Diaram also called ‘Bouy’ 46 but he was subsequently released on Friday morning.
The dead man’s wife, Rosie Hemraj is convinced that one of the suspects held was responsible for her husband’s death. She claimed to Guyana Times that some time before the shooting, Itwaru and ‘Arnold’ were involved in an argument, during which ‘Arnold’ allegedly threated Itwaru, saying, “I gon done yuh”. The woman said she now fears retaliation.
On Thursday evening police from the Major Crimes Unit (MCU), arrived in Berbice to take over the investigation after Shamdundar gave conflicting statements to investigators.
Initially he told investigators that he heard gunshots and saw when Diaram was coming out of the backdam. That story was changed with the suspect saying that he did not see Diaram. He has also given investigators conflicting times when he left the backdam.
Diaram, a fisherman, reported to residents at Gangaram that there was an accident and a man was lying on the dam next to his motor bicycle.
When villagers arrived they discovered the body had what appeared to be gunshot wounds.
Itwaru was shot four times including once to the head.
Police were able to recover four .38 spent shells and one war-head from the scene.
