One of the suspects held by the police in connection with the murder of Bath Settlement businessman Mohamed Haniff, who was brutally beaten and chopped during a home invasion on Friday night, has confessed to the crime and implicated the now dead man’s wife, police have said.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum told Stabroek News yesterday that a total of six suspects, including Haniff’s widow and son are currently in custody assisting with the investigation.
The first arrest in the case was that of Haniff’s widow, who was taken into custody on Saturday morning after investigators noticed contradictions in the statement which she provided on the fatal attack.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that the suspect who admitted to the crime reportedly provided investigators with a detailed statement of what transpired.
The suspect reportedly said that three days ago, he was at his Bath Settlement home in company of one of the other suspects, called ‘Devon, when another suspect, known as ‘Son,’ contacted him and told him that he had identified an individual to rob.
The attack, he said, was supposed to be a robbery but they allegedly killed Haniff after he refused to hand over the money they asked for.
The man told investigators that he along with two others were transported to the scene by a fourth suspect.
Upon arrival, he said, they jumped a fence and went up the front step. Once there, he claimed, they were led into the house.
The suspect further detailed that they proceeded into the room where Haniff was and started to beat him. During the attack, the man said, they decided to kill Haniff after he refused to comply with their demand and hand over his money.
One of the suspects was armed with a knife, while the other others had cutlasses.
Following the killing, the suspect said he and his accomplices were dropped back to his house.
A post-mortem examination performed yesterday showed that Haniff died as a result of multiple incised wounds to the head.
A police source said that Haniff was apparently given sleeping pills.
As a result, the police have obtained the contents of Haniff’s stomach and blood samples for testing.
Haniff, also known as ‘Raymond’, 47, of Lot 56 Experiment, Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice, was reportedly beaten with an iron bar and chopped multiple times in his head with a cutlass on Friday evening.
He was rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital after which he was transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, where he died around 1.30 am the following morning.
Haniff, who was working in St Martin with a relative, returned just over a week ago to Guyana. Stabroek News was previously told that the man returned with US$8,000 which he hid after he had noticed some men acting suspiciously in front of his house.
The couple’s daughter, Bibi Zarifa Haniff, 25, who resides next to her parents had told Stabroek News on Saturday that her mother claimed she was “waiting for my brother to come from work so she didn’t bolt the door, she just push it in and they went upstairs when the three bandits come in.”
The daughter said, “She (her mother) said how them had she flat on the floor with an iron and when she speaking the person telling her to shut up”.
Bibi had noted that about two years ago her father operated a shop at their premises but then left the country to work and support their family. She said he was planning to return in March but because of the restrictions on flights due to COVID-19 he was only able to return to Guyana just over a week ago.
