FOUR young men were on Friday remanded to prison when they appeared at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court charged with the murder of a handyman of Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara on Sunday.

Remanded are: 22-year-old construction worker Vikesh Persaud of Mon Repos Pasture; 32-year-old Jessi Knights of Cooper’s Lane Georgetown, 19-year-old labourer Ossfa Douglas of South Good Hope, East Coast Demerara and 19-year-old Fareek Haniff of Phase Two Good Hope, East Coast Demerara.

The court heard that quartet allegedly murdered 30-year-old Christopher Swamy, a handyman of 161 Mon Repos Pasture, East Coast Demerara in front of his yard during the course or furtherance of a robbery on October 21, 2018.

They were not required to plead to the indictable charge after it was read to them by the magistrate. According to the prosecution’s facts in relation to the matter, Swamy and his wife, along with two other persons, were liming and imbibing in front of their home when two masked men pounced on them with one brandishing a handgun.

The suspects then allegedly relieved one of the victims of her mobile phone and sum of cash while lashing another male victim to his head with the gun. Christopher was shot in the left region of chest and following that the men fled the scene. The injured man was picked up and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The police picked up one of the suspects on the very morning of the robbery and murder. In court on Friday, the men alleged that they were beaten and tortured by a police corporal, who they told the court carried out the act in order to have them sign confession statements.

One of the suspects also showed the magistrate marks of violence which he said he sustained during the torture. He requested that he be allowed to seek medical attention and the request was granted by the magistrate.