Several held over murder of two Bushlot farmers
Several persons have been arrested in relation to the robbery which left two Bushlot, Corentyne farmers dead on Monday evening.
Commander of B Division, Paul Langevine, yesterday told Stabroek News that several persons were arrested for questioning yesterday. He said that he could not say exactly how many were in custody at the time.
On Monday, around 7.45 pm, Harricharran Samaroo, also known as “Davo”, 46, and Premcharran Samaroo, also known as “Tullie”, 44, both of Bushlot Farm, Corentyne, were killed at their mother’s house, located at Lot 446 Bushlot Village, Corentyne.
Stabroek News was told that the men were shot after they rushed to their mother’s backyard to investigate the firing of a gunshot. Harricharran was beaten, while Premcharran was shot multiple times in the head and face.
Their mother, Irene Samaroo, 60, had explained to this newspaper that around 7.45 pm, “My big son ask me to go bring one torchlight from upstairs and when me come in the house me hear bullet start fire”.
The woman had noted that she proceeded downstairs, where her cousin asked “if was gunfire”.
She said at this point, her two sons were nowhere in sight. “Three a them (perpetrators) come then and them catch a uncle (cousin) and a say bring the money come ‘bring all the US’ and them point a gun,” she recalled.
“Abie tell them that we been a Rose Hall and buy thing and we na got much…Me had some money and me take am out and give them and me beg them not to do abie nothing. Me tell them how me sick and me been a hospital”, the emotional woman relayed.
Samaroo said one of the perpetrators, who seemed to be the leader, told another one to take her upstairs.
“He carry me upstairs with a shotgun and me go in and me get some money in one pillow case and me put me hand and me na find the money. Then me say it deh in the barrel and me tell am and me give he”, she stated.
However, at this point, she said she heard a loud commotion downstairs, after which one bandit called the one upstairs to return downstairs, “He pull way a bag from me and he run out and run down but when he been upstairs, he say he na want gold”.
After the bandits made good their escape, the woman said she began to search for her two sons. “Me run pon the dam with me torchlight and a call for them and them na answer”, she said as she broke into tears.
She recalled that Harricharran shouted and told her that Premcharran was lying behind the fireside. Stabroek News was told that Premcharran sustained several injuries to his face.
Samaroo further relayed that she ran to Harricharran, who was lying at the back of the yard. She recalled that he was still conscious at that time. The man was rushed to the Port Mourant Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries just after midnight.
Meanwhile, overseas-based Guyanese, Munnilall Robert Kumar, 71, stated that he appealed to the bandits’ conscience and emotions, which he believes saved his life on Monday evening.
The man explained that after his cousin Samaroo left to head upstairs and they heard the gunshots, they then saw three persons approaching. He said, “Tullie run back and say ‘wah ayo do here?’ and suddenly me hear a lot of gunshots fired”.
However, the man said they then approached him and demanded cash. “I tell them I went Rose Hall and did some shopping and I give them all the money I had and them ask for me wallet and I tell them me na have wallet,” he related.
He recalled that the men started to look around, while he fled the area and hid behind a bathroom. “When I go back I see Davo flat on the ground and breathing but he na breathe heavy so I start to talk and hold he hand to keep him conscious”.
Kumar also said, “I froze but then one thing hit in, I was in military over there and I start to think how to talk these guys out of it. So I became calm and quiet and told them these people poor and the lady sick, let them take what they want and go away and they didn’t say anything. I think I play with them compassion and emotion a little and that thing it down a little, I think that save me too”, he said. The bandits were all masked at the time of the attack, with two being armed with guns, while the third carried a cutlass. They escaped with less than $80,000 in US and Guyana currency.