The suspected gold thief who was beaten to death at Tamakay Landing, Middle Mazaruni last Thursday, has been identified as Mervin Andrews, 35, of Karau, Essequibo.
Stabroek News was unable to contact the dead man’s relatives and according to a senior police officer, the remains had to be buried in the Tamakay area because of the advanced state of decomposition.
The area is very remote and it takes quite some time to access it by land.
The officer said that so far no arrest has been made but investigations are continuing. This newspaper understands that a police team is still in the area.
Police Commissioner Henry Greene during a press conference on Tuesday said this was the latest murder in the interior region. He explained that the dead man had tried to steal gold (from a sluice box) in a mining camp and was beaten by two or three workers. He further explained that initially ranks had a difficulty finding the spot where the incident occurred explaining that it is located “miles and miles down in the backdam”.
This latest murder is the fifth that has occurred in the Cuyuni/Mazaruni area in just over a week.
Last Sunday gold dealers Ramdeo Deonarine and Jainarine Raghubar were found with their throats slashed on the kitchen floor of a Second Avenue, Bartica house. So far it has been revealed that $1.3 million, 100 ounces of raw gold and a gun were among the items stolen from a locked office in the house. It is unclear what was stolen from the two men and it is suspected that they had a large quantity of cash and raw gold.
On August 31, Vincent Williams called `Teddy Bear’, 58, of Supenaam, Essequibo Coast was stabbed to death at 14 Miles Issano. Prior to the incident Williams and the attacker had been consuming alcohol. They later had a heated argument over a woman during which Williams was chopped twice in the head before being stabbed about the body.
Days earlier, Sylvester Simon a miner of St Ignatius, Lethem, was stabbed to death at Apaikwa Landing, Mazaruni during an argument.
For the year so far there have been a total of 16 murders in the interior.
