Suspect held, to face charge over hotel taxi-driver’s murder

Police have arrested a suspect in the murder of Pegasus Hotel taxi driver Rudranauth Jeeboo, whose body was found dumped in a garbage heap in an isolated area at Caneview Avenue, South Ruimveldt, in December.

Crime Chief Seelall Persaud revealed the arrest in a telephone interview with Stabroek News. The murder suspect, who was recently held, is expected to make his first court appearance on Monday, when he would be arraigned on a murder charge.

Jeeboo was last seen alive hours before midnight on December 26, 2013, in the hotel compound in Kingston. He had picked up two passengers and left, never to return.

His body was discovered early the next day by a passerby, while his car was found stripped of the company’s logo and licence plate behind Guyhoc Gardens. There were signs of robbery and Jeeboo suffered a blow to his head.

A taxi driver attached to the same service said the night he was last seen the hotel had thrown a big party and people were going in and out of the premises. He stated that after the man had not returned from dropping off his passengers, he thought that he had gone home.

But Jeeboo never returned home. His sister had called his cell phone countless times but was redirected to his voicemail and after several other tries the phone was turned off.

Surveillance footage collected from his workplace showed that Jeeboo had picked up a man and a woman at the hotel a little after midnight. After investigators combed through the footage, they noticed that the pair were standing at the gate of the hotel a while before soliciting Jeeboo’s service