A 19-year-old man who allegedly took part in the deadly piracy attack on Guyanese fishermen in Suriname more than a month ago was on Wednesday charged with the murder of one of the fishermen.
Alexander Denhart called “Shame face” appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court and was not required to answer to the charge.
Denhart is the second person to be arraigned for the gruesome attack.
According to the Piracy Act of 2008 an individual can be charged for an offence committed outside of Guyana’s territorial waters. Chapter 14 of the act states: ‘Where an offence under this Act is committed outside Guyana, the person committing such offence may be dealt with in respect of the commission of the offence as if the offence had been committed at any place within Guyana or its territorial waters.’
Particulars of the charge alleged that between April 27th and May 3rd,2018 Denhart murdered Tilacknauth Mohabir called ‘Caiman’, who was on a vessel that was robbed.
He was remanded to prison and the matter was transferred to the Springlands Magistrates Court for June 13.
A week ago, Nakool Manohar called “Fyah”, 39, the alleged mastermind behind the attack, was charged with Mohabir’s murder at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court when he before Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh.
The bodies of Mohabir along with another fisherman, Mahesh Sarjoo called “Cooba” were the only two that were positively identified by relatives in Suriname after the deadly piracy attack on 27th April last on four boats with 20 men.
One other body that was found in Surinamese waters is still to be identified and DNA testing is expected to bring closure in that case. The the body of Gowkaran Outar called ‘Gavin’ was found on the Number 63 Beach on May 10th and was positively identified by a tattoo on his chest by relatives. Five persons survived the ordeal while 11 are still missing and feared dead.
It has been more than a month since what is described as one of the deadliest piracy attacks within recent times occurred. The incident gained international attention and placed tremendous pressure on the law enforcement authorities of both Guyana and Suriname.
Investigators are working on the theory that the attack was an act of revenge in an ongoing disagreement among Guyanese fishermen who are the main suppliers of fish to the Suriname market. A brother of Manohar was killed in a drive-by shooting allegedly at the hands of other fishermen.
Several other men who are said to be members of a piracy gang , including “Sinbad”, “Crackhead”, and “Bolo” are suspected to be apart of the group which carried out the attack. The latter two have been arrested by the Surinamese authorities.
