Family calls for justice in Corentyne businessman’s murder

The wife and mother of a Corentyne businessman whose bound and battered body was found on a plot of land a short distance from his Portuguese Quarters home on February 27, 2020, are calling on the police to bring the perpetrators to justice.

On the day in question, the body of 49-year-old Lomenzo Johnny called “Sham” of Lot 11 Portuguese Quarters, Corentyne, was discovered in a yard at Rose Hall Town with his feet bound with a shoelace.
The sweater he was seen wearing on the evening before the discovery was found several feet away from the body.
A pair of scissors and a piece of wood were also close to the body. There was a wound to the back, bruises to his hand and his head and face were swollen. Blood was flowing from his nose when the body was discovered.
His mother, Juleet Johnny told Guyana Times that since she returned to the country, she has not heard from the police.
“The police have not given us any information. I have not seen the police since I came home,” she said.
Referring to her son as being a good person, she said she needs justice for him.
“He helped a lot of people in this community. The people who did it, I want them to be found and penalised for it. I am not giving in. They did not only kill him; they came and ransacked his house. They took his clothes, his safe, all his savings; are they people or animals? How do you bound a man and hit him and then throw him in the corner?” he has family,” she explained.
Johnny has been living alone as his wife and three children were overseas.
The dead man’s wife, Nariessa Baichan explained that the police had informed her that the investigation was ongoing but related that the family is not satisfied with the manner in which the police are handling the incident.
“We need [asking] for the police to get them. They can’t just kill him like that. It was a gruesome murder. They beat him and did all kind of stuff to him.”
She questioned the reason for the robbers wanting to kill the businessman since she knew that they were after the money safe.
According to the mother of three, persons in the community have provided the family with information which they believe can lead to the arrest of the killers.
Following the discovery of the man’s body, investigators arrested several persons but they were subsequently released.
Two years ago, Johnny came under the attack of robbers who held him at gunpoint while taking cash and other valuables from the store. On that occasion, the grocery store was open and customers were conducting business as normal when the bandits carried out the brazen attack.
According to the businessman’s wife, back then, she asked him if he knew the perpetrators.
“He said even if he knows who it is it does not matter because he is alone and if he says anything they might want to come and kill him. That is what he told me.”
The businessman had refused to participate in an identification parade after Police had arrested a few men.