Haniff died of manual strangulation
A post mortem yesterday revealed that Abdool Azeez Haniff, 58, of 23 Mon Repos Pasture, East Coast Demerara, died as a result of asphyxiation due to manual strangulation. Haniff’s body was found submerged in a septic tank at the side of his yard.
The discovery was made by relatives who were summoned to his home on Thursday when a fire was spotted in the man’s house.
They managed to douse the flames which had started in a bedroom of the one-flat concrete building in which he lived alone.
His furniture was set ablaze by a person or persons unknown, who reportedly gained entry to the home by breaking a window. His relatives suspect that robbery was the motive for the fire and the murder of their loved one, since his important documents and other items were strewn on the floor.
The money he kept in the house was missing and it was evident that the place was ransacked.
One of the dead man’s sisters, Bibi Zorena Haniff, who lives about three houses away, said she last saw her brother alive on Wednesday evening.
She said she was going to the shop in the area when she saw her brother sitting on a chair in front of his door.
The woman recalled that not long after she retired to bed,  around 01:30hrs, she received a call from a neighbour, saying that her brother’s house was on fire.
The fire was put out, but Haniff was nowhere to be found.
It was after sometime, when another sibling arrived, that they decided to check the septic tank. The body was there and they  summoned the police.
Haniff walks with crutches and they found it strange that he was not found in his home, as his crutches were at his bedside, where he usually left them as he retired to bed.
Yesterday, scores of relatives gathered at the man’s home for  a wake.