Employers claim deceased man was mentally ill

Partially decomposed body

The employers of Soesdyke resident Patrick Vyfhuis, whose partially decomposed body was discovered on Wednesday in Kuribrong, Region Eight, are claiming that the man had been mentally ill, and they were unaware of this when he was hired.
The employers, of Kuribrong, Region Eight, told Guyana Times on Saturday that Vyfhuis had left for the interior on July 11. According to his employer, after the labourer arrived at the mining camp, he began acting strange, and even told them that somebody wanted to kill him.
“He went in with my husband, and when he go in, everything was okay. The next day now, he went to my husband and he tell him that, ‘Look (names given) coming to kill meh’. Me husband said he turn and tell him and said, ‘Bai relax yourself, nah?’ So he said the night now, he keep running into the bush and want run to the creek and so,” the employer told this publication.
It was further related that other workers on the camp attempted to control the man’s absurd behavior, but failed.
The employer said that as a result of this, on July 15, they were about to escort the man to his home. “When he reach on the landing, he start running up and down at all them shops. So they (ended up) getting him back into the cruiser; and while going out now, he messed his skin up so they stopped at a creek to wash off him, because he can’t go in the vehicle like that. So when they stop now, he run and gone in the bush,” the employer said.
According to three other employees, they again went in search of Vyfhuis, but failed in their attempts. A report was subsequently made to the Bartica and Mahdia Police Stations.
The employer contends that Vyfhuis’s mother knew of his mental illness and did not inform them.
But Odessia Spencer, sister of the deceased man, rebutted the allegation made by the employers, since, according to her, her brother had never suffered from any mental illnesses. Family members of the now dead man have called for a thorough investigation into circumstances surrounding his death.
Vyfhuis’s body was reportedly found by a pork-knocker some four miles away from the camp site on Wednesday last, and was later identified by his employer.
The duo was questioned in relation to the body found.
Investigations are ongoing.