Twenty-four-year-old Jerome Parkes of Grant Covent Garden, Lower Pomeroon was yesterday remanded to prison when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court charged with murdering two men in March.

Parkes, a dredge owner, was not required to enter a plea to the indictable charge of murder when Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson read it to him.

He is accused of being a member of the gang of men who allegedly murdered Romeo De Agrella and Clint De Agrella between March 20 and 23 at Iron Punt, North West District.

The magistrate ordered the unrepresented Parkes, who declined to say anything, to be remanded to prison and transferred the matter to the Mabaruma Magistrate’s Court for August 18.

Jerome Parkes

Two other men, Tyrone Da Silva and Lloyd Roberts had appeared at the magistrate’s court on Friday also charged with the murder of the De Agrellas.

They were both later remanded to prison and will appear at the Mabaruma Magistrate’s Court on the same day as Parkes.
They were charged separately and were also not required to plead.

The decomposing remains of the De Agrellas of Grant Strong Hope, Lower Pomeroon River, were found days after they failed to return home. Post-mortem examinations revealed that they died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud had told Stabroek News that the men’s murders were drug-related.

Police, in a statement, had said that investigations revealed that the victims had left Venezuela and after not returning to Guyana as expected they were reported as missing on March 22. The statement said their bodies were found with gunshot wounds while their boat bore bullet holes. It was recovered without the outboard motor engine. The boat was found overturned in the Waini River by the occupants of a passing passenger vessel. It was subsequently pulled ashore.

A fourth person, former policeman Sean Belfield, called ‘Buck-up,’ who was also fingered for the murders, is still at large.