By Rabindra Rooplall

POLICE are investigating multiple motives for the murder of 52-year-old Parika businessman Seeram Singh, which occurred on Saturday night.According to an eyewitness, the businessman, a father of five and of Lot 40 Parika Outfall, East Bank Essequibo, had arrived home at about 21:30hrs and parked his vehicle inside his yard when he received a cellphone call 10 minutes later, which prompted him to open his gate and venture outside.

It is understood that he had walked a stone’s throw from his residence when he came under attack from multiple persons who stabbed him about the body. He allegedly put up a fight, but was shot multiple times.

The gunman then reportedly placed his feet on the businessman’s chest and shot him in the head, before ripping two gold chains from his neck and pulling a gold ring from his hand. The assailants then fled the scene.

Singh was taken to the Leonora Cottage Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. A .32 live round and a bullet casing of similar calibre were found at the scene.

That same night, detectives arrested a neighbour, identified as Sharon Persaud, with whom the businessman had had an intimate relationship. Another person from the area was arrested on Sunday, pending investigations.

In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Singh’s daughter Shavita Singh said that at time of his death, her father had owned a cargo boat which operates in the Mazaruni area selling fuel.

“The last time I saw my father was at the hospital at about 10 the same night he died. He was a popular businessman in the area and a friendly person. When I saw him at the hospital, they told me he was shot three times, and I saw he had some stabs on his back,” she explained.

Reflecting on the dreadful night, she said neighbours heard the gunshots but were scared to venture outside, fearing that they also would have been shot.

She disclosed that her father’s phone records indicate that he had been speaking to his spurned lover, who lives in an apartment building adjacent to their home.

“Recently, my father was threatened by this woman because he had a relationship with her for almost two years and he bust if off because she had another man,” the daughter asserted.

Singh’s daughter said the spurned lover was very abusive and disrespectful to the family, although the soured relationship had ended months ago.

“She does cuss he out about he children dem. She even pick problems with my aunty. My father was never a man to say much when this woman threaten him, because he knows we would react to it. She get two children, and one of them cuss out on the phone and said my father won’t have a next day,” she lamented.

“One of them had called my sister’s phone and told her that he will get a murder charge for Seeram,” the daughter expanded.

She further explained that, after 30 years of marriage, her mother had died almost three years ago, thus her father had decided to have a relationship with the woman who is now in police custody.
However, she noted that the woman often imbibed alcoholic beverages and would become abusive, and her father decided to have other relationships and cut her off.

“She even had another man and still wanted to threaten my father and deal with him. She even had another man with my father, and this man was throwing talks at he,” the daughter noted.

She opined that her father had to have known his killer, since he fought with his attackers; and to ensure that their identity was concealed, they made sure he was shot to the head after the scuffle.

Residents and members of the grieving family have decried the tardy police response after the shooting. It was noted that the Parika Police Station was called umpteen times after the incident, but hours passed before any police visited the scene.

Residents of Parika have noted that the area attracts criminal elements, who gamble on the street and surrounding areas. It was specifically noted that persons from Albouystown would visit the Parika Outfall area, where they would gamble and become involved in all sorts of nefarious activities.

“I won’t be surprised if one of them take pay to kill the man,” one man declared.