Triumph boy, 13, chopped, battered to death during row

A 13-year-old boy was beaten and chopped to death during an argument on Sunday evening and the police have since arrested three persons for questioning.

Dead is Daveanand Sanichar called ‘Dave’ of Lot 83-84 Plantain Walk, Triumph, East Coast Demerara (ECD).

Following the incident, which occurred around 11.30 pm on Sunday at Plantain Walk Access Road, Triumph, ECD, outside a ‘wedding house’, Sanichar was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Commander of ‘C’ Division Paul Williams informed Stabroek News that three persons were held for questioning shortly after the incident. The suspected murder weapon, a cutlass, was recovered in a trench yesterday.

Daveanand Sanichar
Daveanand Sanichar

The police, in a press release, said investigations have revealed that Sanichar was attending a function in the village when he and some men had an altercation over a female.

Sanichar subsequently left and returned with a cutlass, after which a further argument ensued and one of the men dealt Sanichar a chop to his head.  “Whilst on the ground, he was given a severe beating with a stick,” the police said.

At the dead teenager’s home yesterday morning, relatives gathered as they received the news and  consoled his mother, Sookdai Sanichar, who was heard loudly wailing, “I can never forget meh son, watch how they beat he and watch he dead and me ain’t know nothing.”

Sookdai explained to this newspaper that she last saw her son around 6 pm on Sunday when he left home to attend a wedding with his uncles. The woman said she also attended the wedding, but she had not left home at the same time with Sanichar.

She said shortly after her son left home, a friend of his visited and enquired about him. “The boy does come every afternoon and call for Dave and he come Sunday and I tell he that Dave ain’t deh home, he gone wedding and he went away,” she said.

However, Sookdai said while at the wedding she was dancing next to her son when she noticed the same “friend” approach and touch him on his shoulder and they both proceeded outside.  “I didn’t really tek it as nothing because I know they were good friends,” she said.

However, 15 minutes later a woman informed her that Sanichar was lying motionless on the road outside, bleeding profusely.

“I run out and when I see meh son he head did full in blood. And they lash he up all about he hand and foot and so, he couldn’t even talk to me, like he did done dead,” the weeping woman explained.

The police were alerted and the area was cordoned off as a crime scene as investigations began.

The woman said she was unaware of the circumstances surrounding her son’s death as he had not told her recently about being involved in any problems. She said, “If he and anybody get it out or so he does tell we but he didn’t.”

Sanichar leaves to mourn his mother and three siblings. He was described as a very quiet and helpful individual.