Fisherman stabbed to death at friend’s Albion house

…28-year-old suspect arrested

A 34-year-old fisherman was fatally stabbed at a house at Albion Front, Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) on Sunday night, and Police have arrested a fellow fisherman as investigations continue into the killing.
Dead is Franklyn Sauers, called “Franky”, of Glasgow Housing Scheme, East Bank Berbice.

Police said Sauers was found with apparent stab wounds at a Lot 71 Albion Front house at about 22:00h on Sunday. He was taken to the Port Mourant Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
A 28-year-old fisherman was arrested at the scene and remains in custody as investigations continue.
Sauers’ wife, 30-year-old Varund Sehadeo, has also provided an account of the final minutes before the fatal confrontation.
According to information received, investigators were initially told that Sauers entered the Lot 71 Albion Front home while holding a shiny object, prompting Singh’s reputed wife, to rush to the Albion Police Station to report the incident.
Police subsequently responded to the location, where Sauers was found lying motionless inside the house, and the suspect was arrested.
Sehadeo, of 247 Belvedere, said she had spoken with her husband by video call approximately seven minutes before learning of the fatal confrontation.
She said that the suspect’s reputed wife had contacted her earlier asking whether their husbands were out together because she had been unable to contact him.
Sehadeo then video-called Sauers.
“I asked him, I said, ‘Where are you deh?’ He said, ‘Going to drop off Baba,’” she recalled.
“Baba” is the name by which Sehadeo referred to the suspect, whom she said was captain of the fishing boat on which her husband worked.
Sehadeo said she messaged the suspect’s wife and told her that Sauers was taking him home.
She said minutes later the woman called her again and this time she said she was screaming, with considerable commotion in the background, and told her that “Baba and Frankie” were stabbing each other.
She also claimed that she heard the woman saying, “The man dead, the man dead.”
The call sent Sehadeo rushing to Albion Front with her son.
She initially telephoned her brother to take them there but said she became too anxious to wait. Instead, she placed her son on a motorcycle and headed to the location.
When she arrived, she said, Sauers’ vehicle was parked in front of the house with its engine still running.
Another fisherman, known as “Short Man”, was sitting outside.
“I said, ‘Short Man, where’s Frankie? Where’s Frankie?’” Sehadeo recalled.
She said the man did not verbally respond, but shook his head and pointed towards the inside of the house.
“I just run in and I look for my husband. When I turn, my husband lies down in a pool of blood,” she recalled. She said she ran to Sauers and began calling out to him.
“I said, ‘Babe, wake up, wake up.’ He breathes, his belly moves. My son jumps in. [He said], ‘Daddy, Daddy, no, Daddy, wake up.’”
The suspect was also inside the house, Sehadeo said, sitting on the floor and bracing against a refrigerator.
Because of the manner in which he was sitting, she initially thought he too had been injured.
This publication understands that “Short Man” was also taken into Police custody as investigators sought to determine what had transpired at the house.
Reports are that investigators also received an account from the suspect in which he reportedly admitted using a knife during the confrontation.
He reportedly told investigators that he had been consuming alcohol at a Chinese supermarket at Kilcoy Village earlier that night and became highly intoxicated before returning home.
According to that account, after his reputed wife opened the door for him, he was about to enter the house when a man approached from behind and struck him once on his back.
He reportedly said he rushed into the kitchen, picked up a knife and stabbed twice in the man’s direction, but did not know where the blows landed.
Investigators who examined Sauers’ body reportedly observed several apparent wounds – one to the left rib area and one each to the left and right sides of his neck.
Several persons in the area were contacted and interviewed, while investigators also canvassed the area for surveillance cameras.
Meanwhile, Sehadeo said that the men were “very close friends. That is what shocked me,” she said.
Sehadeo explained that it was routine for her husband to pick up the suspect and other fishing colleagues in the afternoons and take them to purchase snacks, water and other supplies for the following day’s work.
Sauers and Sehadeo had been together for 14 years and have one son.
She described him as a hardworking fisherman who provided for his family and was particularly devoted to their son.
“I want justice. We all want justice,” the grieving woman said.