A man, who has been living on the streets for the past three years, was stabbed to death following a fight over where to sleep on Friday night.

Dead is labourer, Lochand Persaud Kamaldeo called “Tyie”. Though he had no fixed place of abode, he would usually find shelter on vacant stalls at the Number 79 Village Market.

According to the police, between 21:30 hrs on Friday and 01:00 hr on Saturday, Kamaldeo and the suspect, who was identified as Dave Jacobs, had an argument regarding who should occupy one of the vacant stalls.

The argument led to a scuffle during which Kamaldeo was fatally injured.

Initially, the police had arrested two persons of interest but during interrogation, Jacobs admitted to inflicting a single stab wound to his fellow homeless colleague.

He told investigators that Kamaldeo attacked him first and in a bid to defend himself, he grabbed the weapon from Kamaldeo and stabbed him to the chest.

The man was picked up and taken to the Skeldon Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Meanwhile, Bibi Deen, a vendor who Kamaldeo worked with, said she was informed shorty after that he was injured and when she arrived at the scene, she saw a small amount of blood next to the stall.

“I think that it was not serious because it wasn’t plenty blood, but when I reach to the hospital and I see he on the stretcher and them say he dead, I was left shock because I didn’t expect that. He was a good person to everyone around the market. He does watchman or sometime help load stuff. Till now, I left in a shock. Me and my husband come out last night thinking that we gonna even take him to the New Amsterdam Hospital if it was serious, not knowing that he die,” the vendor said.

Guyana Chronicle understands that Kamaldeo spent most of his life in
Canada and upon his return to Guyana, he had been doing odd work around the Skeldon Market area. Vendors described him as a willing individual who does not create trouble. They also noted that, often time, the suspect, who is also a vagrant, would torment Kamaldeo over trivial things.