Second person arrested for questioning about Golden Grove man’s murder
The police have arrested a second person for questioning about the murder of Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara resident David Gentle.
When contacted for an update on the investigation yesterday, Commander of ‘C’ Division Calvin Brutus told Sunday Stabroek that the man was arrested on Friday.
Brutus said the arrest was the second since the investigation was launched.
He explained that another individual was initially taken into custody but was subsequently released since there was no substantial evidence linking him to the crime.
Acting Crime Chief Michael Kingston had told this newspaper earlier last week that several persons of interest were questioned about Gentle’s murder.
“We haven’t got any breakthroughs as yet but we are continuing the investigation… We had someone in custody, somebody was pulled in… but we are pursuing other options. We do have two other persons of interest we are looking for,” Kingston had said.
Gentle’s lifeless body was discovered early Monday morning with chop wounds and his head almost severed from his neck at Haslington, East Coast Demerara.
The fifty-five-year-old had left his Lot 42 Golden Grove, ECD home to attend a karaoke event at Nabaclis North, also on the East Coast.
The motive for his killing remains unknown. However, robbery has been ruled out since all his belongings were retrieved from his pockets
Residents had told this newspaper that they did not hear any strange sounds which might have alerted them to something being amiss.
Stokley Roberts, the dead man’s brother had told this newspaper that based on the injuries inflicted, it was clear that Gentle’s attacker/s wanted him dead.
“That’s more like an ambush… No one would have received those kind of wounds and live. When a man head actually come off his body, how he gonna live like that? He wasn’t robbed because everything was retrieved from his pocket, in terms of his phone, he had on a ring. So it was clearly a murder,” Roberts had said.
Roberts had said he believed that his brother’s killing was linked to either his job at the Nabaclis Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) or because he reportedly gave chase behind some men who evaded the police.
“I think for the kind of job he was doing that might actually attract some kind of discomfort with some people because he is like an enforcer to the village… people might be living on the parapet and public reserve… the position he got, he is like an enforcement officer… he would approach you, serve you and them kind ah things and you know that might not be comfortable with some people,” Roberts had said.
He noted that Gentle saw himself as the “village eye.”
He further explained that in search of answers, he himself did some investigating and learnt on Monday that Gentle had recently given chase behind some persons who had reportedly evaded the police.