A POST mortem examination conducted on the bodies of the four men who lost their lives during a boat collision on the Berbice River on Wednesday night has revealed that they faced varying fates, according to Government Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh.

Singh, who performed the autopsies at Anthony Funeral Parlour, West Coast Berbice on Saturday recorded that the 24-year-old Land Surveyor, Romario Denhart, died as a result of a fractured spine, while his father, Godfrey Denhart aged 50, and cousin, Julian McKenzie succumbed as a result of multiple injuries, which included lacerations to their face, head and feet.

The other victim, Kidman Lindie, reportedly died by drowning, compounded by other injuries.
On Thursday, the bodies of the four men, all relatives, were fished out of the river, in the vicinity of Friendship Village, several hours after their wooden boat collided with a much larger motorised vessel up the Berbice River on Wednesday night.

The search party reportedly used hooks and seines in their attempt to recover the bodies.
However, the gruesome injuries on their faces caused relatives to begin screaming, “Murder! Murder!” as the bodies were lifted out of the water at the New Amsterdam Ferry Stelling.

It was just before 14:00hrs that the bodies of Romario Denheart, of Stanleytown, New Amsterdam, and his cousin, Julian Mackenzie, aged 56, of Sand Hills, were transported by a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard vessel from the riverine Berbice community where they were recovered, to the county’s capital, New Amsterdam.

The remains of Godfrey Denhart, known as ‘Freeman’, of Heathburn Village, East Bank Berbice, and Kidman Lindie, of Sand Hills were towed in just under two hours later.
Since the incident, five men were taken, via Skype, before Magistrate Peter Hugh at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court to answer joint charges of trafficking in narcotics.

The men, Marvin Kissoon, 39, a fisherman of Lot 8 Sheet Anchor, East Canje, Berbice; Kevin Archer, 20, a Labourer of Maria Emrita Village, Berbice River; Ramnarine Punwasie, 23, a labourer of Lot 12 Palmyra Village, East Canje, Berbice; Carl Williams, 51, a fisherman of Lot 6 Adelphi Settlement, East Canje; and Nedram Punwasie, 38, a carpenter/mason, of Lot 12 Palmyra Village East Canje Berbice, all pleaded not guilty to the charge that they had in their possession 33 kilograms of cannabis sativa for the purpose of trafficking.

All five were denied bail and remanded to prison, pending further investigation into the boat incident.