Fisherman admits to killing US-based Guyanese

Mario Bissoondyal of Lot 141 Main Street, Cumberland, East Canje Berbice has entered a guilty plea to the 2021 murder of Guyanese national Hemraj Pardesi, called “Prem”, who, at the time of his demise, was visiting from the United States of America (USA) and was staying at Lot 9 Reliance, East Canje Berbice.
Arraigned before Justice Jo- Ann Barlow in the Berbice High Court on Wednesday, Bissoondyal, a 34-year-old fisherman, pleaded guilty to a charge which detailed that, during the course or furtherance of a robbery, he and another had attacked Pardesi in his yard after his close associate, who had accompanied him to the bank earlier in the day, had left.
Pardesi’s lifeless body was reportedly found at the bottom of his outdoor stairway. He was bleeding from his nose, and duct tape was strapped around his neck. In their investigations, the Police had found the upper flat of Pardesi’s home had been ransacked.

Bissoondyal will, on February 7, 2024, appear again in court to be sentenced. He is being represented by Attorney-at-Law Kevin Morgan, while State Counsel Muntaz Ali is appearing for the prosecution.
Guyana Times had reported that on the day that Pardesi was murdered, he had visited a local bank and had withdrawn an undisclosed sum of cash that was intended to pay for some renovation being done on the home.
In the course of their investigations, the Police had arrested several persons in connection with Pardesi’s murder. During interrogation, one of the men had reportedly confessed to participating in the heinous crime. He told detectives that he had only carried out the robbery, but had at no time hurt the elderly man. And as he continued to confess, he had implicated several other persons in the crime. (G1)