Police are still on the hunt for the prime suspect in the murder of GTM manager Lionel Bert Whyte, who has vanished without a trace.
A Berbice police official told this newspaper last night that the search continues for the man. He said that Whyte’s car, which was found in Stanleytown, New Amsterdam last Friday, was still being processed.
Asked if investigators were working with the theory that the suspect has fled the country, the official said the fact that the vehicle was found in Berbice “points to a number of possibilities”.
Meanwhile, residents in the area where the police found the car around 11 pm said that they heard no unusual sounds until the police arrived and started knocking on doors.
One woman said a policeman asked her if she knew what was going on. The woman said she responded in the negative since she was asleep.
She told this newspaper that when the police found the car, the engine was still warm.
Whyte was stabbed numerous times by a close associate last Monday.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud had said that shortly before Whyte was found with stab wounds, the two were seen in a car in the vicinity of Queen and Bentinck streets. An official at the popular Main Street night spot outside of which Whyte collapsed had told this newspaper that Whyte was seen running out of Hope Street.
However, Persaud said, an eyewitness had placed the wounded man and his companion in the vicinity of Queen and Bentinck streets. Bentinck Street runs parallel to Hope Street and they are bisected by Main Street and Queen Street.
He said the information is that the suspect was driving the car; Whyte was the passenger. Persaud said when Whyte collapsed in front of the night spot the man who assisted him asked if he had been robbed, but Whyte said no, he was stabbed.
When asked why police did not launch an immediate search for the man’s car, Persaud said that investigators were unaware that it was part of the case until the following day.
An eyewitness who was passing the area at the time had recalled seeing two persons fighting in a car. However he realized something was wrong when he saw a man jump out of the car and begin running while the other person in the car drove off.
Police later arrested that eyewitness after a plainclothes policeman overheard him relating what he had seen to another man. The other man was also detained but the duo was released after a few hours of questioning.
Whyte, 45, of 79 Phoenix Park, West Bank Demerara left his Robb and Hincks streets office sometime after 6 pm on Monday in his car. Around 8 pm, he collapsed in front of the nightspot five corners from his workplace.
Persons in the area where he was found said they had never seen him there before.
Whyte’s murder came as a shock to the many particularly the acting fraternity and the West Demerara Lions Club. He will be buried towards the end of this week.
