No leads yet in Kuru Kururu farmer’s murder

There are no leads yet in the investigation into the murder of Kuru Kururu farmer Mark Ritchie, police at Timehri said yesterday. This is despite the fact that Ritchie had wounded one of his assailants.

The village of Kuru Kururu where the tragic death of the farmer occurred early on Tuesday morning is back to its normal laid-back pace.

A visit to the area by Stabroek News on Thursday saw regular activities such as schoolchildren at play at the Kuru Kururu Primary School and residents looking for goods in the village’s shopping area among other everyday activities.

Ritchie, a farmer, who was seen as a decent individual by his friends and family, was gunned down in cold blood after he retaliated against three bandits who had stormed his house in a quest for cash and jewels. Three men broke into Ritchie’s Kuru Kururu residence around 1.30 am confronting him, his wife and four children.

Ritchie chopped one of the men before jumping through a window into the yard. The men caught up with him in the yard and shot him. They escaped with over $180,000 in cash and other items.

Meanwhile, On Thursday Ritchie’s wife Rosalind Persaud was at her parents’ house in the process of making a transition from where she lived with the farmer.

She said that so far no information has surfaced with regard to the tragic demise of her husband. She related that the family was now looking at the funeral arrangements for Ritchie. “I’m not really interested in running to the police station all the time,” she said.

She noted that the post-mortem was performed yesterday and that was the most she was thinking about presently.

A neighbour told this newspaper that Ritchie was a well-respected person in the community who planted ground provisions which he sold at a shop in the area though he also operated from his home, the source said.

“It was a traumatizing experience that caught everybody by surprise,” the source said.

“You don’t wake up every morning at 2 am to hear that someone has been shot.” The individual who has lived a number of years in Kuru Kururu said, “I share her and the children’s pain.”

Other persons spoken to in the village were reluctant to give opinions on the occurrence.

Three days after the shocking incident police at the Timehri Police Station said the matter was still being investigated.