Labourer arraigned over murder of West Coast Berbice man

Kareem Charles
Kareem Charles

The labourer who allegedly struck a West Coast Berbice man with an iron bar on Friday last, leading to his death, was yesterday remanded to prison.

Kareem Charles, 36, a labourer of Bennett Dam, Rosignol, West Bank Berbice, appeared before Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh at the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court yesterday, where he was charged with murder. The charge read that the accused, on Friday, March 1, murdered Arshad Ali.

Charles was remanded to prison and will return to court on March 25.

Arshad Ali

A post-mortem examination carried out on Tuesday, revealed that Ali, 25, of Bennett Dam, died from shock and haemorrhaging due to blunt force trauma to his head. Ali was on his way to visit his pregnant wife at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, when the suspect reportedly ran up to him and dealt him a blow to the head with an iron bar.

His wife gave birth hours after he was murdered.

Ali, who was a factory worker at the Blairmont Sugar Estate, was picked up and rushed to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

His uncle, Mohamed Ahmad, said his nephew was laid to rest yesterday.

According to Ahmad, his nephew completed building his own house for his family over two months ago. He said the young couple would have celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary next week.

Ahmad further related that Ali’s wife is very upset over the incident but is trying to remain strong for their baby.

According to information gathered, the accused had a dispute with one of Ali’s in-laws some time ago. The dispute reached the magistrate’s court and the suspect was eventually sentenced. He was reportedly released from prison a week before he allegedly murdered Ali.