Man held again, cops seeking second man

As investigations into the fatal beating of Ardell Haynes continue, following instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the police have rearrested a man and are looking for another.

Acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene, also told Stabroek News on Friday that this new development was based on evidence found during additional investigations.

Last Tuesday night as the 42-year-old electrician was making his way home on a bicycle from a birthday party held at a Norton Street residence, several persons suspecting that he was a thief, beat him mercilessly.

They had assumed that he was a burglar who had broken into a house in Pirai Square, East La Penitence and attempted to cart off a television set, minutes earlier. That person dropped the item after an alarm was raised and escaped through a nearby alleyway.

Subsequently a group of persons took a badly wounded Haynes to the said home for identification saying that he was found staggering on a street in Meadow Brook.

The man was later taken to the East La Penitence Police Station and left in the yard between traffic motorcycles in the drizzling rain.

His wife said that when she called the station for information, the female rank at the other end of the line was uncaring and unmannerly. The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has since launched an investigation into the alleged negligence and misconduct of the ranks at the station.

Haynes was pronounced dead at the Georgetown Hospital and a post-mortem examination revealed that he died from multiple injuries.

Four persons were initially held. One was released the following day, while the others were placed on station bail earlier this week since the 72 hours in custody permitted under the law had expired.

Two residents of a nearby street had told Stabroek News that they witnessed the incident and one had identified two of the beaters as persons living in the area.