TWO men were, on Friday, charged with the brutal murder of Black Bush Polder residents Subnauth Budraj called “Bull boy”,67, and his wife Sarasuatie Devi Budraj, 59, and were remanded to prison.

Harichand Persaud called “Heads”, 22, and Emanuel Whittington called “Gaza”, 27, appeared before Magistrate’s Rabindranauth Singh at the Albion Magistrate’s Court.
They were not required to plead to the indictable charge and were subsequently remanded to prison until February 7. The matter was transferred to the Mibicuri Magistrate’s Court.
The accused allegedly murdered the couple in their Lot 26 CZ, Yakasari, Black Bush Polder home, on January 17, during a robbery.
The couple lived alone and operated an off-licence liquor store in the lower flat of the building.

According to reports, neighbours were alerted to a fire at the couple’s home after they heard a loud explosion followed by smoke and flames emanating from the house. As a result, they quickly formed a bucket brigade and managed to quell the fire before the firefighters and the police arrived.

At the scene, Sarasuati’s nephew, Satesh Persaud related that he received a call around 04:15 hours about the fire.

He said he immediately contacted another aunt and went to the scene.

Persaud recalled that when he arrived, the residents were already tackling the fire with buckets of water and had the situation under control. He did not see his aunt and uncle, and moments after he began making enquiries about their whereabouts, he was told that they were both dead.

Persaud told the Guyana Chronicle that soon after the police arrived, ranks entered the premises where they found the couple. His aunt was in a pool of blood on the floor with a knife protruding from her neck. Her entire left hand was burnt. Her husband was found a short distance away with gaping wounds on his neck and other parts of his body. He was covered in blood.

According to Persaud, the entire house was ransacked and most of the valuable items were missing. The lower flat which houses a bond, was badly damaged.

Diligent work by police led to the arrest of seven persons including the two accused, hours later. One of the accused during interrogation reportedly confessed to the crime and implicated the other.

He reportedly told investigators that they never intended to kill the couple. However, during the robbery they recognised them. It was then decided that they would kill them both and set fire to the building to cover their tracks and reduce their chances of being captured.

The suspect claimed that he used a gas bottle and pieces of paper to start the fire which quickly spread through the lower flat.

Regional Commander Shivpersaud Bacchus told the media that jewellery, phone cards, cash and other items belonging to the couple were recovered at the home of one of the suspects.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Subnauth died as a result of inhalation of smoke, shock and hemorrhage, a fractured skull and burns, while his wife died as a result of shock and hemorrhage, a stab wound to the neck and burns.