Attempting to stop a group of men from assaulting another man, a 27-year-old mason was stabbed to death at Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara on Wednesday night.
Dead is Kenneth Allen, a father of two and a mason/carpenter of Goed Fortuin Squatting Area. The suspect in the murder fled after the incident and up to yesterday afternoon was not captured. The second murder in the community in just three days left residents shocked. “Is wah happening to this place”, one woman questioned.
Allen had intervened in the dispute, when his attacker turned on him. His aunt, Cheryl Josiah, with whom he lived, told Stabroek News that she was lying on her bed, when she heard a noise and recognized the voice of her nephew sometime after 9 pm that night. Allen was at a ‘wake’ just across the road shortly before the incident.
Josiah related that when she looked outside, she saw the suspect, who also lives in the village and is well known in the area. She also noticed the man, who was reportedly being attacked. She stated that Allen and the suspect were arguing, with Allen telling the man that he was “taking advantage because he was big and strong” and the suspect asking Allen how he got involved. Josiah stated that the man who was reportedly being attacked had just returned from Venezuela that day and the suspect, along with three other men were trying to rob him. “They came up there and they started attacking the guy and that is when my nephew talked to them”, she stated.
Josiah stated that the suspect and her nephew then began “chucking” each other and started to fight. She recalled that as they fought, they moved away from the culvert, near her home and moved up the street. The woman, who was on her verandah by this time, said that she watched as the duo slammed into a neighbour’s gate.
She said that Allen then staggered after being stabbed but the suspect rushed to him and the fight continued. Then Allen fell to the ground and Josiah said that at this point, he was stabbed again. The woman stated that the two continued scuffling on the ground and got up, with the fight still continuing. Josiah said that, holding on to the suspect’s sweater, her nephew began to slide down the fence and it was at this point that the three men, with whom he was before, held on to the suspect. Allen had his attacker’s sweater in his grasp and the man twisted out of it.
By this time, Josiah had run downstairs and when she got to Allen, he was “gasping”. A few minutes later, she said, he stopped and the police were called while he was transported to the West Demerara Regional Hospital. But he was already dead. Doctors at the institution told her that he was stabbed in his lungs and heart. Josiah said that Allen had three major wounds on his left arm, upper chest and left side.
The attacker and his friends ran away. The blood-soaked sweater was left behind and handed over to the police yesterday. The attacker reportedly left the area in a white car. The suspect is said to be well known in the village for his troublesome ways.
A grieving Josiah related that Allen had grown up with her and up to his death resided at her home with his reputed wife, Bhagwandin Persaud and their two children; a five-year-old boy and a one-month-old girl. She described him as “very jovial”, and a person who made friends wherever he went. Allen also leaves to mourn his parents, two brothers and two sisters.
His murder was the second in three days in the community and he lived in the same street, a short distance away from the first murder. On Monday, 25-year-old Nafeeza Khan was stabbed to death allegedly by her reputed husband, Mohan Basdeo. He was charged and appeared in court yesterday and was remanded to prison.
