-stepson in custody
He had returned for his brother’s funeral but some time between Sunday night and Monday morning, US-based Guyanese Moti Singh was stabbed multiple times at a roadside at Windsor Forest, West Coast Demerara, where he was left to die.
The bloodied body of the Singh, 44, was found close to a tiny bridge at First Street, Windsor Forest, not far from where he had stopped for his visit home. The discovery was made around 2 am yesterday. There were what appeared to be five stab wounds in his abdomen and lower chest, relatives said. Early yesterday, his stepson, with whom he had gone out the day before, was detained by police and remained in custody up to yesterday afternoon.
Police reported last evening that investigators were looking at the circumstances which led to the death of Singh, who was heading to his Second Street, Windsor Forest home when three men confronted him and stabbed him several times. He died before receiving medical attention, police said.
Investigators visited the scene and found Singh lying on the road with all his money, jewellery and other personal property intact, the police press release said. Singh died before receiving medical attention. Several family members have been questioned in relation to the incident, police said, while adding that an autopsy would be performed.
Singh, who resided in Brooklyn, New York, was due to return on Friday. But at 4:30 am yesterday, undertakers picked up his body. He had gone out at 5 pm on Sunday with his stepson “to walk,” Bibi Fazeela Khan, Singh’s stepdaughter told Stabroek News. She could not say what happened after as her brother was taken into police custody early yesterday from his home at Windsor Forest. Residents in the area, when quizzed, said that they had heard nothing on Sunday night.
Khan said that around 2 am yesterday, an alarm was raised by someone, who found the body lying at the roadside. She said her stepfather had been stabbed several times in the abdomen and his hands were cut “like he been fight back or something.” She said her stepfather usually had money and always wore his jewellery. She said this included a chain, a band, a thick diamond ring and two other rings. Only one ring was found on him, she claimed.
Singh’s brother, Gokarran Singh, had died of natural causes last month and he had returned for the funeral. According to Khan, since his arrival here, Singh went out almost every night, coming home at different times, sometimes until the next morning.
He was married for the past 15 years to Jaitoon Singh, who Khan said was taking the death “very hard.” They had no children together but Jaitoon had five children. Singh had migrated to the US with his parents and had worked at an airport there before becoming a taxi driver last year. But he was involved in an accident and did not work for the past year, Khan explained.
“Me cyan believe that the man dead onto now,” the woman stated. She and another relative said Singh was “an aright person… he been good to abhe.”
Singh’s murder is the latest on the West Demerara. It follows the killing of taxi-driver Nazir Khan, whose body was found in his car at Stewartville, West Coast Demerara just over a week ago. A post-mortem examination had revealed that the man was shot. Khan’s bloody body was discovered in his car which was parked on a road in Stewartville around 6 am on August 28. A relative had told this newspaper that hours after the discovery, she had observed what appeared to be a single stab wound in the region of the heart. She later said that investigators suspected that it was gunshot wound.
Reports are that Khan, a resident of Lot 172 Railway Line, East Bank Essequibo was last seen around 11 pm, when he left the base with two passengers bound for Stewartville.
Several hours later, he was found in a reclining position in the driver’s seat with what appeared to be a stab wound to the chest area, and parts of his body, including his face were covered with blood. When he was discovered, $18,000 which he had when he left home and his earnings for the night as well as his identification card were missing. Two suspects were arrested but no one has been charged.
