GOVERNMENT pathologist Dr. Vivekanand Brijmohan  has confirmed that Cleveland Hetemyer alias ‘Water Dog’ succumbed to shock and haemorrhage due to gunshot injuries. He disclosed the findings after performing a post mortem examination on bloated, maggot filled remains of the victim at New Amsterdam Hospital mortuary yesterday.
Reports said Hetemyer was killed by two armed bandits last Thursday, at Silverballi, Canje River, also in Berbice, after he resisted a demand to hand over his boat, engine and foodstuff.
The victim was in company with three working partners, one of whom owned the punt in which the deceased was found, when the known gunmen approached.
Hetemyer, a logger, did not pay heed to the men’s request and was shot on his right foot. In a bid to escape, he jumped into the nearby punt that was moored alongside his boat as his fellow loggers fled the scene, and, subsequently, made a report at the Police outpost in the riverine community.
Police said the robbers eluded a dragnet with the stolen boat, engine, fuel and rice.
After the decomposed Hetemyer was transported, under Police escort, to Arokium Funeral Home in New Amsterdam, on Sunday, his sister, Roxanne Nicholson told the Guyana  Chronicle that he had left home three weeks ago to do logging.
She said, on hearing about the shooting on Saturday, she wondered why he was put in a boat which was left to drift in the river.
Meanwhile, Lalita Ramlall, who shares a common law relationship with the father of the dead man, related that she was at the New Amsterdam Hospital seeking medical treatment when she received the news about her stepson.
She said she, in company with other relatives, visited Central Police Station, New Amsterdam, where her worst fears were realised.
Hetemyer will be buried at Stanleytown Cemetery in Greater New Amsterdam.