MARLON Welcome, a 31-year-old mechanic of 192 A Field, Sophia, was murdered after unknown characters invaded his home-cum-mechanic shop just after 02:00hrs yesterday. Marlon and his niece, 23-year-old Enkiny Isaacs, were the only persons at home when it was invaded. Enkiny Isaacs could not say how many persons had entered the house, but explained that she was in her room when she heard a loud sound, followed by another immediately after, then her uncle groaned once.
She said she thought that someone had lashed her uncle. The mother of one explained that when she ventured out of her room, she saw the back door wide open and her uncle on the floor motionless, and he did not respond when she shook him, although he was still breathing.
Isaacs explained that she then ran outside and started shouting to alert neighbours to her plight.
She was still at the Turkeyen Police Station, after giving a statement to the police, when the Guyana Chronicle interviewed her. She said that on Thursday night she overheard her uncle arguing with another man about six thousand dollars, representing payment for some “long-foot shorts”. Isaacs said she had no idea who the person was, because that conversation took place over the phone.
The woman told the Guyana Chronicle that her uncle was pronounced dead on arrival at the Woodlands Hospital. The police later showed up at the hospital and interviewed her before accompanying her back to the house at day-clean. During that initial visit to the crime scene, the police took away several wooden louvre panes that the intruder(s) apparently removed to gain entry into the home. The police also took away the dead man’s cellular phone, which was found on a bridge at the back entrance of the home.
Moreover, the police brought sniffer dogs to the home, which rushed out of the house and were attempting to head south of A Field. She said the police told her that the culprits might have escaped in that direction. Isaacs is of the view that the person(s) responsible for her uncle’s death might have attempted to take away the cellular phone to cover their tracks.
It is also her view that the person who had been arguing with her uncle on the phone on Thursday evening might have played a part in his death, and the phone records should be able to assist police a great deal in their investigations.
But, according to information reaching the Guyana Chronicle, the argument on the phone was not the only one the now dead man had within the last few hours of his life.
A neighbour had observed Marlon in an argument with a light-complexioned male of African descent on Thursday evening. When that individual arrived at the premises, the two men argued about monies owed, but the neighbour could not really determine who had owed whom because of the way the argument went; but the man, who had arrived driving a dark-coloured four wheel vehicle, then left in a rage. It is unclear whether that is the same person Marlon was having the telephone argument with later that evening.
Persons in the area were not familiar with the driver of the four-wheeler, as he had never previously visited the shop.
Another neighbour explained that he had rushed over to the house after he had heard the shouts of the man’s niece, and when he entered the house, he had noticed that Marlon’s tongue was out of his mouth.  He said he immediately checked for a pulse and found that Marlon was still breathing. With the help of another man, he immediately placed the mechanic into a car that was in the workshop at the time, and took him to the hospital.
When the Guyana Chronicle visited the man’s house, his nephew-in-law Vernon Halley said that he was not present at the time of the incident. He explained that he frequents the home because his son usually stays there, and he sometimes goes to take him to and from school. He said he was informed that the intruders did not take anything from the home, but just delivered the blows to the man and then left.
The family is ruling out robbery as a motive. According to Halley, his uncle-in-law works for a lot of people, and the family is not convinced that the act was committed by one of those customers.
Marlon Welcome has been operating the mechanic shop for well over two years, after he had ceased working along with another mechanic in the city.
The police are investigating the incident.