– third brother to die violently
A Kaneville man was yesterday discovered dead in a yard in the area with gunshot wounds and several marks of violence about his body.
Dead is Brendon Charles, 28, whose battered and shot body was discovered in a yard at First Field Kaneville, East Bank Demerara early yesterday morning.
Brendon was the oldest of three brothers to have met a tragic end. His brother Deon Charles was 21 when he was killed in December, 2002 and another brother, Devon Charles was 22 when he was killed in January, 2005.
Their mother, Marva Cuffy, told Stabroek News that Brendon sustained gunshot wounds to the right side chest and in the mouth. Since the deaths of her younger sons, the woman explained, Brendon and her reputed husband, Kenrick Charles, had been “watching their backs” because several persons [named] had threatened to kill them.
“He get two or three gunshots,” a distressed Cuffy said yesterday morning. “His foot and fingers get break and some of his teeth get knock out… They beat me son good before them kill he.”
When Stabroek News arrived at the crime scene shortly before 8 am yesterday police were already present and many residents had gathered. Brendon’s body lay, face down, in the southern side of the damp, grass-filled yard. He was found several feet away from a house owned and occupied by a man.
The owner of the property on which Brendon was discovered, along with other residents, reported hearing what sounded like a single gunshot some time after 1am yesterday.
The man said that he did not investigate the sound and heard nothing to indicate that someone was being beaten.
A woman, who lives a short distance away from the scene, reported hearing a single gunshot as well and said she heard “some people” scuffling outside. Fear, she said, kept her rooted in her house and she chose to mind her own business.
“I hear this gunshot some time after 1 o’clock this morning [yesterday],” the woman recalled, “and lil after I hear some people like they scuffling but I didn’t bother peep out. I just stay inside and mind meh own business.”
Stabroek News understands that the owner of the property on which Brendon was discovered has been taken into custody.
Threats
Kenrick Charles yesterday said that his son was involved in an altercation with a young female [named] last Monday. The young woman, according to Kenrick, had threatened Brendon and told him that he wouldn’t live “to see the week end.”
“This woman [named] daughter and my son [Brendon] were involved in an argument on Monday. He chuck this girl and she fall down and she turn and tell he that she would see that he ain’t going to live to see the week end.”
His son, Kenrick said, took the threat lightly at first and did not immediately report the matter to the police. Things started to get serious by Tuesday, Kenrick said. Brendon learnt from friends that several men were in the area looking for him. Two men, Kenrick said, had pulled up in a car that Tuesday at a Kaneville bridge where Brendon usually hung out with friends.
Cuffy told Stabroek News that Brendon had learnt from several of his friends in the area that the men were looking for him to kill him. Brendon, she said, wasn’t very alarmed and had responded, ‘let them come’. It wasn’t until Friday, the woman explained, that her son went to the Grove Police Station and lodged a report that persons were in search of him and wanted to kill him.
“It was about 12.30 am yesterday that this man [named] come to we house calling for Brendon,” Cuffy said. “We tell he that Brendon ain’t deh home and he ask we for a phone number and we tell he that we ain’t know Brendon number so he left. He de riding a bicycle.”
After the man left, the distressed mother explained, she immediately called Brendon on his cellular phone and told him that the man had been looking for him. Cuffy said she warned her son to be careful during their telephone conversation and that was the last she heard from him.
“Is na ‘til early this morning that I get a call telling me that a man find him [Brendon] dead in his yard,” Cuffy said.
The Charles brothers had been accused of several crimes. It is unclear whether they were convicted of any. Brendon had been charged with the murder of an Agricola man in May 2003 and, according to his mother, he had been accused of murdering Devon Cambridge who was found dead in D’Urban Backlands a few years ago.
Linked?
Brendon, of 914 Fourth Field, Kaneville, was charged on May 16, 2003 with the unlawful killing of Agricola icicle vendor Tyronne Williams. It had been alleged that on March 4, 2003 Brendon unlawfully killed Williams.
Cuffy said that the man, who had been searching for Brendon shortly before his demise, was wanted for the 2005 murder of her son Devon. Devon, the woman recalled, was at a street corner in Agricola. A white car had pulled up and one of the occupants had shot him.
Deon was killed at Kaneville during 2002 by police, Cuffy said. He had been gambling, according to her, and was chased by police and was subsequently fatally shot. Gary Williams, a former member of the Guyana Police Force, had been taken into custody for Deon’s death.
Jermaine ‘Skinny’ Charles, who was gunned down by police last year with Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins, was also accused of killing Devon Charles.
“He [Brendon] was meh last son and I didn’t want him to go the same way like the other two…but what can I do now? All is in the hands of the Lord,” a sobbing Cuffy said.
The Charles brothers were all reportedly associated with the notorious Agricola gang. Brendon, Devon and Deon Charles were all accused of a number of armed robberies and murders. Asked about the activities in which her sons were reportedly involved, Cuffy insisted that they were “innocent”.
Brendon had been gainfully employed before his death and was the father of three children, she said. Residents in the Kaneville area and from neighbouring villages, Grove and Craig, said that Brendon was a nice young man.
“He took a turn for the better,” a business owner in the Craig area said. “He came to my shop steady and over the last couple of years he was really trying.”
