A 23-year-old Garnett Street, Campbellville, Georgetown resident, who confessed to being the “lookout man” in an apparent well-planned robbery and ultimately the murders of 72-year-old Deonarine Liliah and his 29-year-old son, Gopaul Liliah, is expected to be arraigned for the heinous crimes today.
A source close to the investigations revealed that the young man, who is known to the Police, was caught selling two mobile phones on Leopold Street, Georgetown, on Friday evening. Upon checking the phones, it was discovered that the handsets belonged to the now dead Pandit and his son.
As such, the young man was arrested and interrogated. During interrogation, he reportedly told the detectives that the plan to rob the two men was in the pipeline for quite some time. He confessed that on July 7, he and an accomplice had gone to the Pandit’s premises and after staking it out for some time, they executed their plan.
The young man reportedly told detectives that he kept guard a short distance away while his accomplice scaled the fence and entered the Pandit’s house through a front door.
He told detectives that his accomplice realised that the 29-year-old man was at home alone. He and the now dead man reportedly had a scuffle and it was during that, he stabbed the young man several times. The younger Liliah was left to die in a pool of blood. This did not stop the killer from ransacking the house in search of money and jewellery. As he was packing the loot, the Pandit reportedly returned home only to find his son’s lifeless bloody body lying on the floor.
The Police source explained that the Garnett Street man, who is now the prime suspect continued to relate that before the Pandit could have raised an alarm, he was confronted by the killer and stabbed to death.
With both men dead, the suspect claimed that his accomplice left the house with two bags containing personal belongings of the now dead men. They eventually met up on Sheriff Street, Georgetown with the intention of splitting the loot, but instead, he was reportedly given two phones.
In light of this confession, the Police reviewed again the CCTV footage collected from several houses in the area to authenticate the man’s claims, but after reviewing same for several hours, it was established that only one man was at the house on the fateful night.
“He told us where he was keeping watch, but after we reviewed the cameras at
Dead: Pandit Deonarine Liliah and Gopaul Liliah
that location, there were no signs of him…the only person at the scene on the night in question is the person who went into the house and for him to give a detailed account of what took place, it is only logical that he is the perpetrator,” the Police source told Guyana Times.
The file was completed and sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice. The other person – a teen – who was arrested on Friday evening was released.
It was reported that on the day of the gruesome discovery, the younger Liliah’s body was found lying face down on the floor in a pool of blood, with a red jersey wrapped around his head. There were three stab wounds to his back, one each to the left and right side abdomen, and two to the chest. The elder Liliah was found lying on his back in the living room. He was clad in a pair of white long pants and a multi-coloured jersey, and his face was covered with a multi-coloured jersey. He had sustained four stab wounds to his abdomen, four to his left side, one to the lower back, and one to the right hip.
There was no sign of forced entry into the home. However, CCTV footage collected from nearby buildings revealed that a male was seen scaling the fence, and he entered the premises through a front door. After some time, he was seen leaving the house with two bulky bags and a bucket.
The Liliahs were last seen by the tenant who resides in the bottom flat of the house about 06:00h on Saturday, July 7 when they had a conversation. The woman had told investigators that about 21:00h she was using her landlord’s Wi-Fi when it suddenly went off, and it was around the same time she had heard footsteps coming from the upper flat of the house.
At that time, however, the Pandit was still at a religious function on the East Coast of Demerara. It was further reported that after three days had elapsed and there was no sign of the two men, the tenant became suspicious and went to the Kitty Police Station, where she made a report.
She was accompanied back to the premises by three Police ranks and upon checking, they found that the front door was left ajar. Further inquiries resulted in the gruesome discovery. The two men were cremated on Friday last at the Good Hope crematorium.
