Four remanded for murder of West Berbice taxi driver
Remanded: Sarju Mattadin
Remanded: Sarju Mattadin

FOUR men were, on Friday, charged with the murder of Mohamed Haniff and remanded to prison when they appeared before Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh, at the Fort Wellington Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

Remanded: Devon Mc Calmon

 

Ivan Lindo, 21, a security guard and labourer of Lot 256 Waterloo, Bath Settlement; Royston Dowden called “Sakie” or “Killa”, 29, a labourer from Bath Settlement; Devon Mc Calmon, 52, also a labourer of Number 28 Village and Sarju Mattadin, 56, called “Son”, a cash crop farmer of Lot A2, Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice, were all charged with the capital offence and remanded to prison until October 2, 2020.

The men were not required to plead to the indictable charge which stated that, on September 12, at Experiment, West Coast Berbice, they murdered Haniff, a 47-year-old taxi driver.

During the court proceedings, Attorney-at-law, Bernard Da Silva, who represented Sarju Mattadin, requested from the magistrate medical attention for his client, after he told the court Mattadin was beaten by the police while in their custody at New Amsterdam and at Police
Headquarters, Eve Leary. The magistrate acceded to the request made by the attorney.

According to the police, at approximately 21:00hrs, Haniff and his wife were at home when three unidentified men, armed with a gun, cutlass and an iron bar, pounced on them.

During the attack, one of the men threw several chops at Haniff’s head then demanded cash and valuables. However, when the man responded that he had none, the men escaped empty-handed.

The injured man was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital where he succumbed a few hours later.

The Major Crimes Unit, during its initial investigation, had detained the wife of the deceased, after her recollections of the incident were inconsistent. The couple’s son was also arrested but both were subsequently released on station bail.

Remanded: Royston Dowdin

Haniff arrived in the country on September 11 and, reportedly, had in his possession some US$8,000 and a quantity of jewellery that he did not disclose to his wife.

The men will return to court on October 2 for their second appearance.

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