Five days after a Bartica gold miner was brutally chopped to death by another man during a row over water, police in the area are yet to arrest the killer.

Police confirmed yesterday that the killer of Oswald Joris, called ‘Buns’, is still at large and although there has been searches for him he has not been found. Police said the man is well known and once he is recognised he would be arrested. Relatives of the dead man believe that the killer might have fled into the hinterland.

They are questioning why a wanted bulletin has not been published for the suspect. Joris died after a row over water turned violent in the Papa Road, Arimu Backdam, Cuyuni River on Sunday morning.

According to reports Joris and the suspect had an earlier altercation on Sunday morning over drinking water. Later in the day Joris and a woman were drinking rum at a shop when the suspect confronted him and brutally chopped him with a cutlass about his body, then fled.

Joris died before receiving medical attention at the Bartica Hospital.

Joris had been operating a shop in the Arimu area for a number of years, serving mainly gold miners.