The bloated and nude body of a former Republic Bank employee was yesterday afternoon fished out of the Lamaha Canal, three days after he went missing. The man’s head appeared to have marks of violence.
Dead is Shane Ryan, 32, formerly of Lot 30 Shirley Field Ridley Square, Ruimveldt. Faye Rodney, Ryan’s mother informed this newspaper that her son went missing on Friday night, and she last saw him on Friday morning at around 1.
The woman said that her son became an alcoholic about seven years ago, and began sleeping at Charlotte and Wellington streets, but would return home occasionally to take a bath and to eat.
The grieving mother explained that whenever her son did not get to imbibe the alcohol, he would suffer from seizures and hallucinations. This, she said his doctor had explained to her, was what is known as withdrawal symptoms and they occurred because Ryan had consumed so much alcohol that it had started to tamper with his brain.
Rodney continued that on Thursday her son suffered from one of these seizures and fell off a bridge and injured himself. After he had received stitches for his wound, the mother said that she took him home and they retired to bed.
However, at around 1 am on Friday, she said, she was awakened by a relative informing her that Ryan was on the road. When she approached him, the woman said, he told her that he had seen a thief and was going to catch him. Rodney said she managed to persuade her son to re-enter the house and return to bed, but later that morning he left and never returned home nor did he go to his temporary place of abode in Charlotte Street.
According to the mother, Ryan was seen by persons on different occasions at various locations. She said that on Friday night around 7, he was spotted on the road by someone, and on another occasion he was spotted on the seawalls walking in the nude, with his face swollen and blood about his body. On another occasion, Ryan was seen in the Promenade Gardens attired in a skirt.
Rodney said that her son was never violent, though she hid knives and other sharp objects from him in the event that he did resort to violence during his hallucinations.
Earlier yesterday, Rodney had visited Stabroek News and reported that her son was missing.
Ryan is also survived by his wife and son who reside in Barbados; one brother and two sisters. He was a former student of the St Rose’s High School and studied at the University of Guyana for two years. He was also a former employee of the GTM Group of Companies.
The body is at the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour awaiting a post-mortem examination.
