Stanleytown man drowns after riding into conservancy

A Stanleytown, West Bank Demerara man is now dead, after he allegedly rode into the Canal No. 2 Conservancy on Wednesday.

Dead is Patrick Sugrim, 53, of 84 Stanleytown, whose body was fished out of the Conservancy on Thursday morning. His relatives had initially suspected foul play but a post-mortem examination performed on the body yesterday revealed that Sugrim drowned.

According to Sugrim’s wife Khemraji, her husband, an employee of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), arrived home from work and around 3pm he stated that he was going for a walk. The woman explained that he used his motorbike to go on this “walk” and headed in the direction of Canal No. 2.

Patrick Sugrim

When he went out, Sugrim would normally return home around 8pm or he would call if he would be late but on Wednesday he failed to show up and the family heard no word from him, she said. As a result, the family became worried and as soon as the next day broke, Khemraji and other relatives went in search of him. The grieving wife said they enquired of his two best drinking buddies on his whereabouts but they both told her they had seen no sign of him “whole day yesterday [Wednesday]”, so she thought that he must have been out drinking with another group of friends.

Khemraji soon received a call informing her that a body was seen floating in the Conservancy, and upon her arrival there she found that it was her husband’s. His motorbike, which had sunk was found about a mile away from where his body was discovered. His wife related that she was made to understand that a boat passed by and saw him floating in the water and alerted persons on the discovery.

Sugrim leaves to mourn his wife, his mother, his two children Satrohan and Indranie, and four grandchildren. He is to be cremated today.