A security guard was found dead in a store at Rose Hall Town, Corentyne, Berbice on Saturday night moments before it was discovered that the store had been burglarised and $1.5 million in cash was missing.
The dead man has been identified as Munisperen Iyasammy Monien, 53, of Lot 45 Clifton, Port Mourant, Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
Monien’s body was discovered in a pool of blood in a storeroom at Sukhsram
Dead: Munisperen Iyasammy Monien
General Store at Lot 13 Public Road, Rose Hall Town.
Investigators estimate that Monien was murdered between 19:00h and 20:00h on Saturday.
Details are still sketchy as to what alerted investigators to visit the premises where the discovery was made. <<<Guyana Times>>> was told that when the store was closed on Saturday afternoon, between $1.5 million and $2 million in cash was locked in a drawer inside.
The owners of the store are overseas, and the manager who lives nearby has since been taken into custody.
Reports indicate that when the building was checked, several locks were open and it is believed that the locks were left open on Saturday as the business was closed.
This publication was shown a gap in the back fence of the otherwise well-secured premises. Investigators are working on the theory that the perpetrator gained entry to the yard, which is secured by the high concrete fence, by climbing through the
The hole in the fence that it is suspected was used for entry and exit
opening.
However, in order to get there, one would have to jump over a neighbour’s fence and go to the back of that yard before climbing into the yard which houses the general store.
Meanwhile, Monien had reported on Wednesday evening, someone was attempting to use an old refrigerator which had been lying next to the building to gain entry. The now dead security guard had reported that he was able to identify the person who had placed the old refrigerator next to the fence and was in the process of climbing over the fence when an alarm was raised.
The following day, he gave a statement to the Police to that effect.
The suspect, who lives a street away, was arrested on Sunday morning as investigators probed the murder. Police also arrested the parents of the suspect.
The store where the incident took place
It has been reported that the suspect’s parents were heard calling for the guard from the yard next door where they live. “Guardie, Guardie…. Guardie not answering, like Guardie dead,” this newspaper was told one neighbour overheard the parents saying.
As the investigation intensified and it was discovered that doors to the back of the upper flat of the building were not properly secured, all of the employees, including the store manager, were taken into custody.
The now dead man’s brother, Lloyd Arasammy, told <<<Guyana Times>>>that his brother’s throat was slashed. He said he was told of the incident shortly after midnight on Saturday and when he went to the scene, the Police allowed him to view the body but from a distance.
“I saw my brother’s left side head with a long burst on it and his throat slash but not too deep, and I was made to understand that his foot is broken, but I couldn’t tell when I saw him,” he explained.
This publication was informed by another source that one of the security guard’s hands was also broken and that there was blood splatter in the building, indicating that there might have been a struggle.
Police continue to investigate.
