POLICE were called in to investigate the discovery of two corpses found within a time span of 24 hours in the Georgetown district.

The first body was discovered on Thursday night, January 10, in the vicinity of the 1763 Monument, and this was reported by this publication in yesterday’s edition. The second body was discovered by passers-by yesterday morning in an empty lot in the St Phillip’s Green area.
That body has been identified as that of 19-year-old Wesley Holder, aka ‘Horatio’ or ‘Old Girl’, late of 65 Cross Street, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown, a homosexual and commercial sex worker who plied his trade in the vicinity of the St. George’s Cathedral on North Road, Georgetown. There were suspected marks of violence on the body.
 
Holder’s aunt, Paula Niles, said the entire family is aware that Wesley had been gay and had been involved in the act of commercial sex. Yesterday, at the scene, Ms Niles and Holder’s other family members and friends could not contain the grief they felt.

Ms Niles told media operatives that the teenager had left his home just after 1900 hrs on Thursday night, and when he was leaving, she had asked him where he was going, and he had replied that he was not going to be long on the road.

She said she had been very apprehensive about him going on the road that night, and explained that Wesley would usually return home at around 23 hrs or midnight if the road is hard (difficulty soliciting persons to engage in sex).

The police maintained a presence on the scene yesterday, and were busy conducting their investigations. They were observed meticulously checking the body from the head to the toes, and even checked underneath the dead man’s fingernails to determine if he had been involved in a scuffle.
His relatives surmise that he might have been involved in a fight, which led to his demise. Nevertheless, one of them told the media she was not aware of any recent altercation Wesley Holder might have been involved in.

His aunt has said that based on the knowledge of relatives, the last altercation the young man had been involved in was back in 2012, and that had involved a woman. However, that matter has since been settled.
One of Holder’s cousins who was present at the scene yesterday said that persons would usually take advantage of Holder, and as recently as Thursday morning, a man had showed up at their Werk-en-Rust home with a cutlass looking for the now dead man.

She said the man had related that he had had intercourse with a group of homosexuals on Wednesday, and one of them had stolen his Blackberry cell phone.

Ms Niles said the man was informed by the other homosexuals that it was Wesley who had taken his phone. They, however, refuted that assertion, since Holder had not been at the location on Wednesday night; and when the man had appeared at the home with the cutlass, Holder had been soundly asleep in his bed.

Ms Niles explained that she had been the person who would usually wake her nephew up in the mornings. She said that when she woke up yesterday morning and did not see him, she sent a relative in search of him.
Checks around the area and the Brickdam Police Station had come up empty handed, so they chose to check certain areas because they are aware of the  harassment people such as Wesley would have to endure at the hands of the police.

It was after that search that she received a call that her nephew’s body had been discovered in the empty lot.

Meanwhile, with the latest death of a member of the gay community, persons in some sections of the society, including several who gathered at the scene yesterday, are questioning the work of the interest groups advocating for gay rights.

One of the main bodies which is often in the media calling for reform of laws and provisions for gays to be recognized and operate free of discrimination is the Society Against Sexual Orientation  Discrimination (SASOD).

The executive members of this group are often the beneficiaries of workshops and seminars both in and out of Guyana, and receive funding from various organisations to be channelled towards the development of members of the gay community.

In the past, SASOD has been accused by members of the gay community of not doing enough for gay people, especially those who are in the business of cross-dressing. Several persons, including those who are part of other gay organisations, have long held the view that SASOD needs to be fair in its dealings with gay people.

Yesterday, efforts to contact head of the group, Joel Simpson, to comment on the death and address the views of persons, were futile.