– police arrest murder suspect on the lam for 18 years
– suspect had allegedly butchered a father of three who disapproved relationship with his daughter

By Leroy Smith
“I did the research after I got old enough. I bought a Bible for $2,050 and I woke up every morning at 03:00 hrs and start to pray and I asked the Lord that the man who murdered my father should come to justice, we must not harm him, he must walk into the eyes of God and so said so done.”
Those were just some of the moving words from Deochan Singh, 28, as tears flowed from his eyes as he spoke with the Guyana Chronicle on Sunday afternoon.
His father, Daniel Singh, was chopped to the head with a cutlass reportedly by Deonarine Bhikari, who was 35 years old at the time. Bhikari had attempted to strike up a relationship with Daniel’s 19-year-old daughter, a relationship that the deceased Daniel had disapproved of.
On May 21, 2000 at Logwood, Enmore, East Coast Demerara, Bhikari, according to reports, had barged into the yard of the now dead man with a cutlass and attempted to attack the man and his three children who were at home at the time.
Daniel is said to have prevented the aggressor from entering his house and in the process was chopped to the head, causing him to fall on the ground.
When his father fell, Bhikari stood over him and continued to fire chops about his body, the young man who was 10 years old at the time recalled.
Following the incident, Bhikari fled to neighbouring Venezuela.
But on Sunday, police swooped down and arrested Bhikari at the home of his sister, who he had gone to pay a visit in the company of his father.
The Guyana Chronicle was told that Bhikari arrived in Guyana recently and was seen at the funeral of a resident of the community.

MEDIA FRIEND
He was accompanied to the funeral by a former senior member of the media, who is said to be a close friend of the family.
In recalling the ordeal, Deochan Singh told this publication that his father’s alleged killer managed to leave Guyana unhindered because of the close ties he had with persons associated with a certain political party at the time. He recalled that the suspect’s father served on the neighbourhood council as a representative of the said political party and too as the party’s district organiser.
On the morning when his father was butchered it was in the presence of children- two sons, Deochan, 10, Roopan, 12, and daughter Baghwanti 19, the man recounted and recalled too, how his siblings had forced their head through the windows of their house hollering for help.
“My brother and I pushed our heads through the window screaming for help and no one came and he chopped my father like piece of fish,” Deochan recalled with tears in his eyes.
And, when he (the suspect) had finished chopping up their father, he turned his attention to them and the family pets.
“We had three dogs who were attacking him and he killed all three dogs. He went into the house to chop me and my brother up and we hide. We did not hide under the bed but between two mattresses. My brother took me and he said don’t make noise come under here he cannot find us here and we were there and when my sister ran out of the house I ran behind him after he chased after her and closed the door,” Deochan, now a businessman recalled.
He said his sister managed to get refuge in the home of a neighbour and with that, the suspect who was only clad in his brief, fled the scene and subsequently the community.
The man said his father was picked up and rushed to the hospital where he remained on life support for five days before he was taken off of the machine. He remembered that the doctors had initially indicated to his relatives that his father would not survive. He was taken off the life support machine on May 26, 2000, three days before his ( Deochan Singh) birthday.

HAD NEVER GIVEN UP
“My birthday is the 29th of May, my father was chopped on the 21st of May and he was pronounced dead on the 26th of May. Today, my father gave me a gift for my birthday. My life was never happy every time the month of May begins,” Deochan Singh told this publication.
He said his family had never given up hope that one day the man who murdered their father would be brought to justice. It took a lot of personal efforts and the assistance of God, he said.
He said his family had hardship after the incident because his father was their sole bread winner at the time. The young man related that prior to the incident, his mother and father had separated, but after his death she returned home to care for her children.
While she was away from the home, however, Deochan said his father got up every single morning at 03:00 hrs to cook for them in order to send them to school. Daniel was the chair bailiff at the Supreme Court but left that job due to what he considered a poor salary and took up a job at GuySuCo as a planter.
Recently, Deochan said he began receiving information that his father’s killer was spotted on numerous occasions in Lethem.

He said more recently, he received word that the man was in the community but in an effort to appear disinterested of his presence, he brushed off the news as a means to distract those who were giving him the information.
What they did not know, however, was that the young Singh was informing his lawyer and the police about the information he was receiving. Deochan said he was even made aware that the man after moving to Venezuela, opened a shop and was living an easy life operating as a small businessman.

“He was taken to a funeral in the community by the former Editor-in-Chief of a local newspaper. He was at the funeral and we were tracking him all the time but we were not getting a place of stay. And residents coming to us all the time and say he will come at so and so time and he will be at so and so place,” the man informed this publication.
He added: “Acting on information that his father took him over at his sister’s house, this morning (Sunday) at 6 o’clock, we went to the home and we saw him.  I, my lawyer and two officers arrived at the home and the police spot him, called him by his name, he acknowledged his name and he was told of the offence and was arrested. I was working very hard on this case, I went to meet the crime chief, I went to the library to read up about the matter after I got older and then I started talking to God. I bought a bible for $2,050 and I woke up every morning at three and start to pray and I asked the Lord that the man who murdered my father should come to justice, that we must not harm him but that he must walk into the eyes of the Lord and the hands of the law and so said so done. This morning I was at the beach to take a bath and when I returned home I receive a call that the man’s father brought him home,” Deochan said.

‘WE PUNISHED’
Deochan said that after his father died, a sitting judge at the time took care of them by helping the family financially so that he and his siblings could complete school. He said the judge treated them as if they were part of his family.
Still crying, the young man recalled leaving to go in search of a job at the age of 14, while his mother sold to assist in taking care of their family.
He said on his job, he received an injury and he sued the company and judgement was in his favour. The young man said the family always wanted justice for the death of their father. Today, they are now taking care of their mother.
Deochan related that one of the biggest regrets of the family today is that their father is not around to see how they have all grown up to be independent and leading their own lives.

“Today, I wished if my father was alive to see the people we have turned out to be and to also see the face of the man who fractured his family. We have everything that we want in this life, but we don’t have our father and that is hurting us,” he stated.
He said that forgiving the man for the murder of his father is not something they will think twice in doing but before they do that, he must first speak the truth about what happened on the night in question and own up to his mistake.
“It’s a very painful story, I want to forgive him but it’s a painful story, we will set him free in our hearts but he has to speak the truth. We know our father cannot come back but if you know what it takes to grow without a father at that age, it is very, very painful, and to tell you what was more hurtful was to live among these things because people who knew where he was never urged him to turn himself in,” Deochan said.