…mini-bus conductor arrested

A FATHER of three was robbed of his Iphone and stabbed to death on Friday night in the vicinity of Stabroek Market. At the time of the incident, the man was waiting for a mini-bus to go to this Leopold Street, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown home.

Dead is Rawle Rodrigues, 40, who was a mason and carpenter. This newspaper understands that Rodrigues was stabbed with a knife to the region of the heart around 21:30hrs and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital. The police have apprehended a 28-year-old bus conductor of Albouystown, in connection with the robbery/murder.

Public Relations Officer, Superintendent Jairam Ramlakhan, said that investigations revealed that Rodrigues and two males had an altercation, when he was stabbed once to his chest by one of the men on Croal Street, in the vicinity of Demico House.

During an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, the victim’s sister, Anastacia Rodrigues, said that her brother was not a trouble-maker; she believes that the stabbing was unwarranted if the perpetrators wanted just his smartphone.

“He was taking a few drinks before and was walking home when he get robbed and stabbed to the heart; he normally has two phones, an Iphone and a Blu, he was walking with the Iphone in his hand when they attacked him, he only had a $100 in his pocket to go home,” the sister said.

She explained that the man who is in police custody is known to the family. “I don’t think he know was my brother when they rob him…I was told that they traced my brother from the [West Bank] bus park where he was drinking and they attacked him when he pulled out his Iphone, and they thought he had money.”

In tears, Anastacia recalled that five years ago, her sister Latisha ‘Samantha’ Rodrigues was also killed at Stabroek Market while waiting on a mini-bus to return home.

“We didn’t get any justice for my sister’s death and now this happens.”
Thirty-one-year-old Latisha ‘Samantha’ Rodrigues was a Stabroek Market vendor of Lot 80 Breda Street, Georgetown. She was reportedly stabbed once in the region of her chest on September 26, 2010.