-was reportedly trying to steal drum
A Triumph man was electrocuted yesterday morning while he was reportedly stealing a water drum from the yard of a Justice of the Peace over a wired fence.
The dead man is Lairie Semple who resided at Lot 174 Surat Drive, Triumph, East Coast Demerara.
Reports are that the man is a known petty thief and was trying to steal a water drum from Lot 12c Surat Drive. Stabroek News was told that due to the high incidence of recent thefts, the JP ran electric wires along his fence in an effort to deter criminals.
The JP was taken into police custody and a senior police source said that they were holding the man because it is unlawful to put live wires on one’s property for the purpose of keeping away criminal elements.
A female resident of the house, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that she was not home when the incident occurred but returned home after she received a call that someone had died in the yard. According to her, the JP was in the house with two clients when a neighbour called sometime around 9 am and told the JP that someone was stealing the drum (which was used to collect rain water) from his yard. She said that when the JP initially investigated he did not see anything. However, subsequent investigations by the JP saw the barrel outside of the yard and the lifeless body of Semple in his yard by his fence, the woman said. She added that the police were summoned to the scene immediately by the JP.
The woman stated that when she returned home minutes after 9 am, she saw a huge crowd gathered in the yard. She said that she noticed the body of the dead man in the yard and also observed the drum outside of the yard. A machete in a bag, thought to belong to Semple, was retrieved from inside the yard.
Meanwhile, Samantha Semple, the sister of the deceased, believes that there is much more to the story than is being told. She last saw her brother alive yesterday morning just before she left for work, sometime after seven. According to her, she had given the man his breakfast just before she left the house. She said that sometime around 9 am she received news about her brother’s death.
She said that she subsequently went to the scene where she saw her brother’s body lying next to a drain in the JP’s yard. She said that something about the scene looked a bit suspicious but said that she is waiting on the results of the post-mortem which is expected to be conducted tomorrow. She added that she was informed that the drum that her brother was supposed to have been attempting to steal did not have a bottom and hence she could not understand why he would do that.
Meanwhile, the dead man’s grandmother Jessie Skeete described him as being a “little wicked” and said that he had a penchant for stealing coconuts from trees in the area. But she was adamant that was all he used to steal. According to the woman, who celebrated her 98th birthday on Tuesday, her grandson spent little time at home. She said that he would go around the village with his cutlass and would do odd weeding jobs.
Father of the deceased Fitzroy Semple said that he had only spoken to his son on Tuesday about changing his ways. He stated that his son was not a bad person but that he had a few bad habits, and he said he advised his son to ask God to help him change his ways. According to the father, his son used to work at the LBI sugar estate as a cane cutter, but was not currently employed with GuySuCo, since he had gotten sick during the last crop and could not work. He, however, said that his son
did not deserve to die in the manner in which he did.
