Tuschen man pleads guilty to amputee murder during robbery

Collin Jackman, known as “Junior,” last week pleaded guilty before Chief Justice (ag) Navindra Singh to the brutal 2021 murder of 59-year-old Keith Richard Hohenkirk, an amputee shopkeeper, during a robbery fuelled by drugs and greed.
The 24-year-old Jackman was represented at the High Court in Demerara by Attorney-at-Law Madan Kissoon, while the State’s case was presented by Counsel Geneva Wills, Christopher Belfield, and Simran Gajraj. He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 19. According to the case presented by the prosecution, Jackman and Hohenkirk were familiar with each other: both resided in the Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) community. However, a week before the fatal attack, Jackman conspired with several others to rob the shopkeeper. Their plan involved drugging the victim using a narcotic substance known as “molly.”

On October 23, 2021, the group allegedly mixed the drug into a bottle of Banko wine and took it to Hohenkirk’s home. Later that evening, they invaded the house, bound the elderly man’s hands, gagged him with a piece of sheet and scotch tape, and ransacked the premises. During the ordeal, Jackman struck Hohenkirk repeatedly to the face and head before making off with snacks, beverages, and cash from the victim’s home and shop. Not content, Jackman and one of his accomplices reportedly returned later to collect the wine bottle, only to find Hohenkirk cold and unresponsive. Despite this, they continued looting the shop before fleeing the scene. The following morning, police discovered Hohenkirk’s body lying on his back, his hands and mouth bound, and the room in chaos. He was pronounced dead at the Leonora Cottage Hospital.
Jackman was arrested on October 26, 2021, and in a caution statement admitted to his role in the robbery and assault. A post-mortem conducted by Government Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh found that Hohenkirk sustained blunt trauma to the head and compression injuries to the neck. The cause of death was listed as subdural haematoma due to blunt trauma to the neck.
Jackman now awaits sentencing for the crime that shocked the quiet Tuschen community.