A pensioner was reportedly strangled to death during an apparent home invasion at Phase Two Hope Plantain Estate, East Coast Demerara (ECD) on Friday.
The dead man has been identified as 72-year-old Michael Soomair who was last seen alive on Thursday evening at about 22:00h. The victim’s grandson lived in the upper flat of the house while he resided in the bottom flat.
The man’s daughter, Nalinie Chowbay told the Guyana Times on Friday that the man’s grandson also cares for his bedridden grandmother who lives in Unity Mahaica, ECD.
“In May he [Soomair] had two massive heart attacks and he was on a life machine, but he came back and made it out. He was home and all of that. He was living upstairs, but because of the heart attack and him having to climb the stairs, we moved him downstairs… on the day he was found he was supposed to go to a doctor’s appointment. So, when the grandson came home, he told him that he heard something knock at the side of the house and he went to check but he didn’t see anything, so he went to tell the neighbour at the front of the house,” Chowbay said.
“His grandson left and went to stay with the grandmother in Unity… before he left, he told his grandson to come pick him up at seven in the morning to go to the doctor.”
The woman said her nephew went home just after seven in the morning and noticed that the door to his grandfather’s apartment was locked. At that time, he assumed that his grandfather went to the doctor alone.
“They said that he come home, he bathed and he dressed and he said he was going to go to work since his grandfather went to the doctor. While they were coming down back the stairs his wife realized that the padlock was not on the door to his grandfather’s apartment. She turned and told my nephew that his grandfather didn’t go anywhere, he was right in the house. They knocked at the door but didn’t get any answer,” the dead man’s daughter said.
Chowbay further related that the grandson and his fiancée decided to go to the side of the house where there is a window to his grandfather’s room. At that time, they realized that some of the louver panes were missing.
“They saw four windows were gone. When they looked through the window, they saw him lying face down in the living room and the door was locked from inside. It looked as though the person or persons who went there, went in and come back out through the window,” the aggrieved daughter stated.
The police were immediately summoned, and upon arriving on the scene, Soomair’s lifeless body was found with his hands bound with a rope, his face down in a pillow, and a sheet over his head. His house was also ransacked with his smart television, which was not working, and some of his pension money that he had collected missing.
The family also related that the person or persons who entered the house also rested a sofa on the man’s head to possibly prevent him from getting up.
“The side of the window where they went in from, is wet due to the rain so it has mud and all of that. You can see the footprint and everything, but the front to come out to the gate is concrete and if they had walked there, you would have seen footprints and mud… but, it appears as though they came from the back of the house.”
“That same night, about three other homes in the area were robbed and his house was the fourth one… he maybe could not get up because of his heart issue”.
The woman said she believes that her father knew the person who went to rob him, and that is why they killed him. The family said they are shocked by Soomair’s sudden and brutal passing and are hoping that the perpetrator or perpetrators responsible for his death are found soon so that they can feel the full brunt of the law.
