AS police investigate the death of Shereffudeen Nazamudeen, relatives of the 22-year-old fisherman are calling on the authorities to leave no stone unturned in relation to his “untimely” demise.
Nazamudeen, of Lot 15 Old Road, Good Hope, East Bank Essequibo (EBE), was beaten by several persons at a house on the public road near his home after he was chased around the village in connection with a snatching incident.
According to the man’s cousin, Nazamudeen, called “Sheriff,” left his home located on the periphery of a canal which separates the village of Good Hope from nearby Ruby around 16:30hrs on Tuesday. She said that as the man walked out of the street leading to the public road, he encountered a woman who is said to be a councillor with the governing Alliance For Change (AFC) party.
“He walked close to her and hold the bag she had but he na been mean anything by it,” the young lady noted. She said that the man continued walking out to the roadway and shortly after, he turned around and headed back home using a parallel road.
According to a neighbour, moments before the incident, she passed Nazamudeen along the roadway and she recalled complimenting him on his attire, noting that “he was well dressed.” She said shortly after she saw her neighbours running behind Nazamudeen along the roadway near her home.
She said that the AFC councillor along with her father, who also works for the party, and two other men were racing behind with pieces of sticks.
“The poor boy had nowhere to run, so he end up on the roof by the house that burn down”, she recalled.
Nazamudeen clambered up the roof of the house which belonged to the late Mohamed Munir and his wife Bibi Jamila Munir, who were killed last April by several intruders.
“He begged them not to do anything,” a neigbour recalled, but according to her, after promising the young man that he would not be hurt, his assailants dealt him several blows.
She said that Nazamudeen slipped and fell while attempting to climb down the roof of the house and it was while he laid on the ground, one of his assailants dealt him a blow to his abdomen with a shovel stick, while another hit the man to his head with a piece of wood. She said the female councillor and her father also dealt Nazamudeen several blows. The man was pronounced dead on arrival at the Leonora Hospital.
At the man’s home on Wednesday afternoon, his mother and relatives cried uncontrollably as they recounted the incident. The family was preparing to hold a wake. According to the man’s grandmother, Nazamudeen was already immobile when his assailants decided to tie-him with pieces of wire and rope.
“Ow uncle they had no right to kill he,” the elderly woman noted. She said too that the man and the councillor know each other and as such, the family was shocked by the incident.
Residents noted that the man’s assailants had enough time to call the police before he met his demise. Moments before this publication visited the man’s home on Wednesday afternoon, police ranks from the Parika Police Station revisited the scene and arrested a man, while the AFC councillor and her father remain in police custody. Nazamudeen leaves to mourn his parents, two siblings and other relatives.