Mother believes murder of policeman was a set-up

– girlfriend says only a few days ago he had asked to marry her

By Bhisham Mohamed –

The mother of the police recruit who was shot dead Sunday evening in Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo by three suspected bandits believes that his murder was a setup.

The dead trainee policeman Harold Sukhai, 25, of 646 Tuschen Housing Scheme, was reportedly shot to his left chest by one of three bandits who subsequently relieved his girlfriend of her gold jewellery and her Samsung Galaxy mobile phone.
Sukhai was at the time returning to the police training base at Eve Leary in the company of his fiancée when the incident occurred shortly before 22: 00h. His girlfriend was later detained and subsequently released.
At the home of the deceased on Monday, his mother, Omawattie Jankie, told Guyana Times International that her son left home about 20: 30h with a female, whom he claimed was a friend.
She added that after her son and the woman left, the family retired to bed, but about 25 minutes later, a car pulled up and started to honk its horn. The driver subsequently disembarked and informed them that Sukhai was shot and was lying on the road.
“Myself and my daughter went to the scene… I meet my son with he two knees bend back and he had the haversack with his belongings around his shoulder and (in) his hands, he had his spectacles and his cap… he was bleeding from the left side chest,” Jankie said.
The dead man’s mother explained that the female had visited their home with the intention of collecting some teaching aids from her daughter who is also a teacher. Jankie further stated that after the young woman collected the materials, she left with Harold.

Suspicious route
Jankie said there was no reason for her son and the young woman to take the route that they did and accused the Cyril Potter College of Education student of knowing about the murder.
“How he died and she nah get no injuries… she said that three men tackle them and one hold on to she and two on my son… but I still keep asking what they de doing at the back when they had no reason to be there,” she added.
She continued that she does not believe the account of events related to her, noting that the area where her son met his demise is desolate and has no street lights.
However, Drupattie “Trisha” Sookdeo, the dead man’s girlfriend, told this newspaper that she and Sukhai have been dating for the past three weeks.
She claimed that they met at Vreed-en-Hoop and exchanged telephone numbers, and since then they had been in constant contact while he was at the police training base. On the night of the shooting, she said she was at an Internet café getting her work done when she received a phone call from Sukhai requesting that they meet.
“I told him to come meet me at the internet and from there he can take a bus and go to his college, but at that time he told me he wanted to take me home to meet his mommy, so I told him to come out half way and collect me,” the young woman related.
Sookdeo further disclosed that after she met the man’s relatives, they left and while walking out, three men attacked them from behind.
“Two of them were with him and one with me… the one with me pulled out my chain, bangles, and rings and also took away my phone,” she explained.
During the scuffle with the man restraining her, she heard a gunshot and saw Sukhai fall to the ground. The man who was holding her subsequently let go and ran away.
Sookdeo said she was fearful, so she ran into a nearby yard from where she flagged down a car that was passing at the time.
She entered the taxi and went straight to Sukhai’s house where she related the ordeal.
She also refuted claims that she visited the home to borrow teaching aids to assist in her teaching practice.
She explained that Sukhai’s sister was part of the secondary programme, while she is presently being trained as a primary school teacher.
“The teaching aids are totally different, hence there is no reason to borrow aids from his sister,” she noted.
She revealed that only on Saturday, Sukhai asked her to marry him, but her mother wanted to see him before a decision was made.
Sukhai was a graduate of the GuySuCo apprenticeship programme where he was trained as a fitter and machinist. He worked at a number of places before joining the police force and began training on November 19. He was due to conduct his final training in April.
A post-mortem performed by Dr Nehaul Singh on the dead man revealed that he died as a result of shock and haemorrhaging due to a gunshot wound.
He leaves to mourn his parents and two sisters.