–residents shocked

By Rabindra Rooplall
RESIDENTS of Nonpariel, East Coast Demerara (ECD) are in shock that the daughters of a pensioner may have been the masterminds of his murder.On Sunday, the body of 64-year-old Roger Manikam was discovered on the Coldingen Railway Embankment, also on the East Coast, on the shoulder of the carriageway, and reports indicate that he was killed Saturday evening.

Divisional Commander Marlon Chapman confirmed to this newspaper that four persons are in police custody, including the dead man’s two daughters, aged 12 and 18, a boyfriend and another male accomplice, who allegedly transported the body.

REAL CRAZY
“I can’t believe someone would do that to dem father; this is real crazy,” one resident noted. Meanwhile, many residents expressed confidence in the police and agreed that the horrible act cannot be justified in any way.

“If they had a problem with the man, they should have left him alone and find another place to live, or get help to move out or move on. Killing him makes everything worse for them all now. This should be a lesson to others,” one woman commented.

According to reports, the two girls – 12 and years old lured the elderly man to the kitchen of his Nonpareil home last Saturday night, where a boyfriend of one of the girls chopped him with an axe.

They then dumped his body on the Coldingen Railway Embankment, in the hope that the police would believe that the pensioner was the victim of a violent robbery.

The Guyana Chronicle understands that the body was covered in construction plastic and a length of polythene was wrapped around it. There were also chop wounds to the back of the head.

According to police sources, the two girls (duaghters) lured him into the kitchen, where the boyfriend attacked him from behind with an axe. Another male accomplice was contacted and the body was placed in a car and subsequently dumped on the Railway Embankment.

The killers had acquired the axe, construction plastic and rope from a storeroom in the backyard, the Guyana Chronicle understands. Initially, the daughters had claimed that the man’s 22-year-old girlfriend was behind the murder; something that police also found strange.

The post-mortem examination revealed that Manikam died from head trauma and haemorrhage.