TWO men, suspected of being pirates, appeared before Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on Monday, charged with the murder of Corentyne boat captain, Mahadeo Ramdeholl, also known as ‘Chico.’

Another man, Devanand Singh, was also charged with accessory to murder. Kemraj Narahsay, 38 and Dodnauth Singh, 57, both fishermen from Rose Hall, Corentyne, were not required to plead to the capital offence.

It is alleged that the duo on May 16, 2017 in the river between Tain Village and Rose Hall on the Corentyne foreshore, murdered the 57-year-old boat captain during an armed robbery.

They were represented by Attorney-at-law, Chandra Sohan and were remanded to prison until June 5, 2017; the matter was transferred to the Whim Magistrate’s Court.

Meanwhile, Devanand Singh, who is the brother of Dodnauth, was charged with being an accessory after the fact in the murder of Ramdeholl. The 57-year-old fisherman of Port Mourant, Corentyne, Berbice was not required to plead to the indictable charge, which alleged that on May 16, 2017 between the river of Tain and Rose Hall, Corentyne, he relieved, comforted and assisted Kemraj Narahsay, and Dodnauth Singh, knowing fully well that the men had participated in a murder.

His lawyer, Chandra Sohan told the court that his client saved the two men from a boat accident in the river. However, Police Prosecutor Arvin Moore opposed bail, citing the seriousness of the offence.

The Chief Magistrate ruled in the prosecution’s favour and remanded the accused until June 5, 2017. The matter was transferred to the Whim Magistrate’s Court.

According to reports, on May 16 about 18:30hrs in the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of Tain Village on the Corentyne, the alleged pirates, while being armed with a cutlass, went out into the Corentyne River, where they attacked the boat captain, and his two crewmen, Arjun Permaul, 45, and Parmanand Nandan, 21.

After allegedly relieving the victims of some fish and their outboard engine, and striking Ramdeholl on the head with a cutlass, the attackers forced the victims to jump overboard.

Ramdeholl’s body was found the following day near the Rose Hall foreshore. A postmortem revealed that he had drowned.