-body bore stab wounds, burn marks
No one has been detained over the murder of taxi-driver Rolston Bernard Henry, who was found with his throat slashed at Onion Field, La Bonne Intention (LBI), on the East Coast Demerara (ECD) on Sunday.
A senior police officer said yesterday that while the police have not yet established a motive for what led to such a brutal murder, background checks are being made which may open lines of inquiry. The officer appealed for anyone with information in relation to the case to come forward.
Henry’s body was discovered late Sunday at Onion Field. His hands were bound behind his back and he was gagged. His body bore stab wounds and there were burn marks to his chest, his reputed wife of four years, Carmelita Collins told Stabroek News yesterday at the tiny Durban Backlands home the couple shared. A post-mortem examination done yesterday revealed that he died of haemorrhaging and shock due to incised wounds.
In an official statement, the police said that they are investigating the murder. The lawmen said that the body was discovered at 4.30 pm on Sunday at LBI and bore marks of violence to the throat and other parts and his hands were tied behind his back with wire. The car that Henry operated, PKK 9036, had been found earlier at 6.30 am in a trench at Plaisance, ECD, the police said.
Collins told this newspaper that she last saw her husband late Saturday night at the car park, in front of Demico House, where he usually worked. At around 10 pm that day, the grieving woman recounted, they were together and he gave her money to buy some items so that she could cook for him. After returning home, Collins said that she was cooking rice when her phone rang at 11.33 pm, with Henry’s number showing. Upon answering, she heard voices in the background with a male stating “you [expletive] call” two times before the phone was disconnected.
Worried, the grieving woman recounted, she called her husband’s phone numerous times but received no response. She decided to go to the car park, where she questioned Henry’s friends about how long he had left but received differing reports. She said that he normally called her regularly and she left her phone number with the drivers with instructions that should Henry turn up, she should be contacted immediately. Collins reached home after 3 am on Sunday and later in the morning called Henry’s phone twice and it rang but no one answered. The third time she called, it was turned off.
At 6.30am Sunday, she left for the East La Penitence Police Station, where she made a report. She also put a missing persons report on Channel Nine. She said that upon returning home at 2 pm, she called the owner of the car to ask whether he had any information about the car or Henry. She said she was told that the car had been found.
Collins recalled that she went to the Sparendaam Police station and saw the vehicle there. “The car in a mass of confusion, blood in the back,” she said, adding that at that point, even though she feared the worst, she prayed and hoped for the best.
The woman related that she went to Plaisance to see if she could find anything else but was unsuccessful. After returning home, late Sunday afternoon, Collins said, she received a call from the police at Sparendaam, telling her to go to LBI and she went. “When I gone an look, that was he and that was it,” she said.
The woman added that her husband’s clothes had been removed, he bore stab wounds; there were what appeared to be burn marks on his chest, he was bound and gagged and his throat was cut. She said the rings, chains and a watch he wore were missing as were other items that were in the car.
The couple would have celebrated their fourth anniversary on Father’s Day. Although they had no children together, Henry was the father of five.
Collins disclosed that her reputed husband was robbed once before, last Father’s Day, when he was working with a taxi service, with the bandits taking away money and jewellery. “I deh warn he about it, ease the taxi,” she stated. Asked whether she knew of any problems that he had with anyone, she said no. “He does walk away from trouble… He so lil piece [small in stature] that he don’t mek trouble at all.”
