After her murder….
– Results expected soon from DNA testing currently underway in the U.S.
THE family of murdered 21-year-old Sheema Mangar had to relive the trauma of that killing when her 15-year-old brother, Jason Mangar fell victim to an attempted robbery. It happened last Wednesday evening, at Better Hope, East Coast Demerara, while he was making his way home.
His mother, Ms. Radica Thakoor told the Guyana Chronicle he had gone to get some documents printed and was returning just after 18:00 hrs when three men attacked him.
She said he was on his bicycle and one from the trio grabbed his phone, the woman said, recalling that she had told him, over and over, previously, to give robbers what they want.
She said the instrument is not worth his life but he still held on to it but he was fortunate that his screams attracted public-spirited citizens to his rescue.
“He was lucky the people came out so they (the attackers) did not get anything,” Thakoor reported.
The distraught parent recalled that, since the incident, she invested in a printer so that her son would not have to go elsewhere to get his printing done.
“You don’t know what to do these days. It’s not easy to lose a child, but people do not understand that,” Thakoor lamented.
She noted that Tuesday ended four months since her Demerara Bank employee daughter was killed and no progress has been made in securing justice for the crime.
According to her, the Police told her the piece of the victim’s clothing found underneath a suspect’s vehicle, of key evidential value, has not yet been returned from overseas, where it was sent for forensic testing.
“There is not any meaningful progress in her case. We are still waiting, anxiously, for the result of the tests,” she said.
Thakoor regretted that, following her daughter’s brutal slaying and more than six weeks into the probe, daily enquiries have been met with bland refrains, such as: “Investigations are continuing” and “We are working hard on the case.”
“More than six weeks now, we were told that the piece of fabric, which was critical to solving the case, was still with the Guyana Police, it was not dispatched in a timely manner. It was only after we met with the Commissioner that we were told that the fabric had been sent to Barbados. Before that, we were told that it had been sent to Trinidad,” she informed.
SAMPLES SENT TO UNITED STATES
However, Minister of Home Affairs Mr. Clement Rohee told a press conference yesterday that the samples (some pieces of evidence) have been sent to the United States (US) for DNA testing to be done there.

Rohee said, while no result has been received as yet, it is hoped that not too long from now the Police will be in possession of the results from the DNA testing.

Rohee said a decision was taken to send the samples to the United States instead of the Caribbean due to the “painstaking” and “woefully inadequate” pace at which the results are forthcoming.

Still Asking
Meanwhile, Thakoor wondered whether the family’s quest for justice may end up as just another cold case, declaring it is a “dreaded” reality.
“Sheema did not deserve to die this way. She was a happy child…at Queen’s College, she was able to pass with 10 subjects…she qualified in accountancy while working…Sheema’s dreams were not allowed to flourish. They were brutally crushed by an animal,” she said.
As a mother, Thakoor said, to deny her daughter justice will reflect the state to which life in Guyana has become and make her assailant bold enough to continue in his ways, as he would have been able to escape without impunity.
But she vowed: “We will not give up…we worked hard to raise her and give her an education. We would like to see justice served.”
The young woman was awaiting transport on North Road, Georgetown, when her Blackberry phone was snatched and, when she chased after the robber he entered a motor car which dragged her several feet, to her death, from North Road to Church Street, before it sped away.
Public-spirited citizens rushed her to Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) and, later, she was transferred to the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, where she died.