THE body of a father of four was found in a clump of bushes in Mahaicony yesterday morning, with the lower right leg severed and several chops about his slim figure.Dead is 41-year-old Curt Burke of Drill, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara (ECD). The mutilated body was partially wrapped in tree vines when it was discovered.

The police in a press release yesterday stated that they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Burke whose body was found at about 09:30hs yesterday on the main road at Drill with injuries suspected to have been caused in a hit-and-run accident.

However, relatives dismissed the police statement as mere speculation, maintaining that the father of four was murdered.

“His head had a large hole in it like someone shot him and his leg was chopped off his body, there was no blood or skid marks where they said the accident occurred. There was blood nowhere, it appears as if he was killed and brought to that place to make it look like an accident,” his aunt Carmen Burke disclosed.

Other reports disclosed that a car had struck Burke’s bicycle on Drill Public Road and the driver upon checking to see what had happened was told by a man nearby to return to his vehicle and go away since staying and looking around may put him in problems.

The driver on the dark roadway decided to heed the man’s advice and left the scene. Burke’s bicycle was found with only a minor bend to the wheel.

According to one relative, “they found him with his arm in the air like if he was blocking chops and lashes. His leg was found a far distance away from the body.”

Other reports reveal that Burke was drinking Tuesday night and never returned home as usual to assist his relative with work around the yard.
“Is a very dark area he living in and I don’t know if anybody do him anything when he was coming home or if he was drunk,” one resident said. “He lives with his 10-year-old son, but the boy is by his aunt, so we didn’t see him Wednesday morning as usual.”

Curt was described as a jack-of-all-trades, and would usually work as a mason, carpenter and vendor at the Bourda Market.

By Rabindra Rooplall