A 50-year-old Triumph, East Coast Demerara resident is now dead after he was chopped to death by a friend during an argument at his home yesterday.
Dead is Christopher Findlay, also called ‘Andy,’ of Lot 25 Agriculture Road, Triumph.
Findlay’s death followed a series of argument and scuffles between him and the suspect, who was only identified by neighbours as ‘Flushing.’ The man has been arrested.
In a statement yesterday, the Guyana Police Force stated that it was investigating the murder, which occurred between 8am and 12pm.
The police said Findlay, who was last seen by a neighbour about 8am, had a misunderstanding with a friend. When the neighbor checked on him at about 12pm, he discovered him lying on a bed motionless with wounds to his left eye, face and one of his elbows.
Findlay was taken to the Beterverwagting Health Centre, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The body is currently at the Lyken Funeral Home awaiting a post-mortem.
The police also said that a 29-year-old labourer of Kadoo Street, Triumph, was arrested and was in custody.
Pastor Patrick Findlay, an older brother of the deceased, told Stabroek News that he was alerted about minutes to 12 by one of the neighbours, who informed him that his brother was beaten up by ‘Flushing.” He said that he was told to hurry over to the house immediately and when he arrived at the scene he found his brother lying on the bed.
“I recognised him immediately and after looking at him about 20 seconds I realised that he was dead. And so I came out of the house and I cried and afterwards I called the police and they came and conducted their investigations,” he said.
After realising what had happened, he said, he noticed chop wounds on one of his brother’s arms and head.
Shortly after his arrival, he said, he was told that his brother was involved in a scuffle with somebody from the same community and it seemed that the suspect chopped him and left him there to die.
He further said that after the police had arrived and conducted their investigation they went to the suspect’s home and arrested him. This was later confirmed by the police.
He noted that he was told by neighbours that the suspect went to his brother’s home between 7.30 and 8.30 am yesterday morning and during that time the sounds of a scuffle and subsequent screams were heard.
The pastor noted that his younger brother, who is a father of seven, lived alone at his home.
He added that he was told that the suspect and his brother also had a scuffle on the road on Thursday night and then the suspect went back yesterday morning to continue the argument. The elder Findlay was unsure what the arguments were about.
According to Patrick, his brother was unemployed but spent majority of his life as a construction worker. He added that he was very friendly and was well-known in the area.
Meanwhile, persons in the neighbourhood revealed that the now deceased Findlay was frequently involved in petty robberies due to his addiction to drugs and as a result of this, he was frequently beaten up by his victims. “It is nothing unusual to hear beating sounds come from his home because every week somebody does come and beat he up, so when we hear noise and him screaming, we didn’t take it for anything because this happens a lot and so for us it is normal,” a neighbour stated.
Neighbours claimed that both the deceased and the suspect were involved in drug-related activities.
One neighbour recalled that around 8.30 am, he heard noise coming from Findlay’s house but he also thought that this was the usual occurrence. “Regardless of what he did, he didn’t deserve to die like that,” he said.
He noted that just two weeks ago, someone had assaulted Findlay and injured one of his legs. He said they had to call his family, who live in Mon Repos, to help him as he couldn’t walk. He said that he was therefore surprised to see Findlay riding a bicycle on Thursday morning and then later in a scuffle with the suspect. He said prior to the murder yesterday morning, Findlay went to the suspect’s home, where they had another scuffle and it was after that scuffle, the suspect went to deceased home.
The suspect was reported to have been involved in many serious offences, including wounding.
