A GDF officer was on Sunday evening stabbed to death in Philippi Village, Corentyne during a row over Guinness.
Dead is Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Lieutenant Mark Bagot, 26, of Lot 12 Philippi Village, Corentyne. The soldier was visiting family for the holidays and was expected to return to work in Georgetown yesterday.
According to information gathered, the suspect, identified as ‘Son’, of Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder, and the deceased were both present at a shop in Philippi on Sunday evening. Stabroek News was told that initially Bagot was having a drink with a friend of his, when the suspect, who is known to Bagot’s friend, joined them.
Daneshwar Garbarran, 39, proprietor of the shop in Philippi Farm, Corentyne, where the murder occurred told Stabroek News that “when Son come in, soldier man (Bagot) say ‘buy two Guinness’, the man (suspect) buy three and them drink.”
“The soldier boy left and gone to the neighbour and he come back in ten minutes and either he say bring a round or bring three Guinness. So` Son’ say he na want nothing, whatever he call for he go pay and soldier boy insist to bring something for he (`Son’) and the man say no what he call for, he go pay and the two start argue and pointing finger and next soldier boy start pelt bottle,” he recounted.
The shop owner related that persons present started to intervene, “Them tell `Son’ that the boy is an officer and them start block and` Son’ deh run around and me na really see when he get bore but soldier boy go collect the stool for go in back and then me see blood and then he realise like he get bore too and he start get weak,” the man recounted.
Relatives who immediately gathered at the scene, rushed Bagot to the Port Mourant Hospital. He was then transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital where he succumbed to his injury just after midnight on Sunday.
Stabroek News was told that Bagot sustained one stab wound in his chest area.
Investigators in Berbice have launched a manhunt for the suspect. This publication was told that several searches were carried out at the suspect’s home and known areas where he would hang out in Black Bush Polder yesterday. However, he was not located.
Meanwhile, an emotional Mark Bagot Sr, 51, recounted that he was at a wake house when he was told that his son had been injured.
He recalled that he initially thought that his son was involved in an accident. However, he was subsequently told that his son had been stabbed. “We leave and we go down to the hospital and when we reach there, he was in a critical stage because he was going in and out of consciousness,” the man recounted.
“I accompanied the nurse with him in the ambulance to go to (the New Amsterdam) hospital and while going on the way, he was in and out of consciousness and when we reach to the hospital, they start look after him. He wasn’t speaking, just groaning,” he added.
According to the father, a doctor at the New Amsterdam hospital told him that the injury punctured his son’s lung and “they were unable to stop the bleeding.”
Bagot Sr is calling on the police within ‘B’ Division to arrest the perpetrator at the earliest. The grieving man said that he still cannot come to terms with the fact that his son lost his life “right in the village.” He said that he has never known his son to be involved in any fights. “That is unheard of, at least for me. So I’m so shocked and so surprised,” the man said.
Bagot, who was described as a promising and helpful young man to the Philippi community, leaves to mourn a younger sister and his parents.
In a statement yesterday afternoon, the Chief of Staff and officers and ranks of the GDF, expressed their “deepest condolences to the family and friends of the late Lieutenant Mark Bagot.”
