–three in custody
By Heppilena Ferguson
A relentless search by relatives of a Linden man who went missing eight days ago, ended on Monday when they discovered his body in a six-inch shallow grave some five miles from where he worked as a logger on the Makouria Trail, Essequibo River.
Dead is 29-year old Aubrey Griffith of Blue Berry Hill, Squatting Area Linden. Two men, who had reportedly threatened Griffith the day before he went missing, as well as a woman, are in police custody assisting with investigations. Police in a press release yesterday said that following up with investigations into a missing person’s report made on April 30, Griffith’s body was found in a shallow grave along the Makouria Trail. Police also said that the body bore suspected marks of violence to the abdomen and a post-mortem examination is to be performed shortly.
Speaking with this newspaper yesterday, the man’s mother, Amelia Gill, who travelled to Georgetown from Linden with her son’s body, said that the Sunday before her son went missing he was involved in an altercation with two brothers from the neighbourhood over a bicycle wheel.
According to her, he had lent the men the wheel and when he queried about them not returning it, they ended up in a heated argument. She said Griffith then chopped the bicycle wheel into pieces since the men did not want to return it to him.
She said her son did not return to work the next day and was subjected to threats by the men. “They pass and they told him he can’t stay in there forever and he must go to work and they will deal with him. They told him, ‘leh we see how long you will stay in the house’,” the woman reported them as saying.
She said that on Tuesday April 29 her son left home at his usual time and never returned.
“Me and his wife got worried because he would usually come home for lunch… We kept looking out for him but he didn’t come home. She left about two the [next] morning and made a report to the police station,” she said.
The woman said her son was not the sort to go sporting with friends or drinking and so his disappearance made her even more worried.
She also told Stabroek News that her daughter-in law returned to the station the very next day but did not receive any cooperation from officers.
Contacted for comment on this, Commander Gavin Primo, told this newspaper that once the police were wrong in any of their actions, he would not deny it but said he needed to receive further information from ranks at Linden on the entire incident before he could comment further.
According to Gill, relatives then embarked on searches every day in a bid to find the man. Their search came to an end around 12:20 on Monday afternoon. They had detected a foul smell emanating from a suspicious looking spot where flies had gathered and dry bush was scattered.
Relatives removed the bushes, then moved away sand and mud and spotted a hand. The woman said they immediately returned to the police station, but it was not until about 4 pm that they were able to return and eventually remove the body from a six- inch-deep grave.
According to her, her son’s body was clad in a pair of pants and boots and his shirt was just spread over his chest.
Gill said the body had what seemed to be a stab wound at the navel and the head was also smashed in. “I suspect they murdered my son. I feel too that it was advantage because my son was extremely kind to these boys and every time they want a raise or they want anything from him, he would give them because he was very kindhearted,” she said.
Commander Primo, who said he was familiar with the incident, said the police had searched the area where the man worked. He said the police also figured that the body might have been somewhere in the area but had not found it.
Griffith was the father of two daughters, ages six and two.
