Police have arrested a 19- year-old Rosignol resident for fatally stabbing another man at Rosignol, West Coast Berbice early on Tuesday morning.
Dead is cane harvester Bharat “Sunil” Thatpaul of Shieldstown Settlement, Blairmont, West Bank Berbice. The incident, which occurred at the Rosignol Ferry Stelling, ended an all-night drinking spree involving the deceased and two friends.
At the dead man’s residence, his widow, Omawatie Basdeo, 21, was being comforted by neighbours and relatives, who were shocked at the fate of Thatpaul who was described as hard working and friendly.
Basdeo related that her husband was at home copying a song when she left to pay bills at a Western Union outlet in Rosignol. The woman said that her husband loved music and singing, and his dream was to one day record his music. Basdeo recalled returning at around 17: 30hrs to discover the house locked up and her husband of six years nowhere around. Later in the afternoon, Thatpaul called, and she urged him to come home early, having learnt that he was out drinking with friends.
The woman said she retired to bed at around 19:30 hours, and when she went to the bathroom at around 01: 00hour, her husband had still not returned home. She was roused at around 03: 30hrs hours by her brother, Bhim Harold, who was shaking the gate. He broke the tragic news to Basdeo.
Harold was in the company of the deceased when the stabbing occurred, but was too drunk to give an accurate account of what had happened. He then undertook to carry Basdeo on his bicycle to the scene, but he could not control the bicycle, and they fell to the ground. The woman said she continued on foot in the rain, and when she arrived at the Rosignol Stelling, she saw Thatpaul lying lifeless on the road.
Basdeo collapsed, but was revived by relatives. The housewife disclosed that the deceased was lying on his back in the middle of the road, clothed in a black shirt and a pair of black jeans. “Me tell am, ‘Get up, come leh we go home’ and he nah respond … he eyes bin lil open,” said Basdeo.
She added that a wound on the right of her husband’s back was revealed when the police, who later arrived on the scene, turned over the body.
Speaking with Guyana Times International, Harold stated that he and three other men, including the deceased, had begun drinking at a shop in Shieldstown, Blairmont, before making two other stops prior to reaching the bar at Rosignol. He explained that Anand, his nephew, headed home, and he, Mohamed Razack, and the deceased proceeded to Shureen’s Snackette and Bar, where the drinking continued after midnight.
He conceded that he was too drunk to really understand what had really happened, but the deceased was walking around and chatting with other people who were in the vicinity, when a crowd gathered not too far from where they were sitting. He said he later heard a voice, which sounded like Thatpaul’s, calling for help. Harold stated that he rushed over to where the crowd was gathered and saw Thatpaul lying on the ground, bleeding and almost unconscious. Harold said he rode for about half a mile to the home of the deceased, to alert his wife about what had happened. He also attempted to get help, but no one in the neighbourhood responded to his pleas to transport the injured man to the Fort Wellington Hospital, which is about 15 minutes’ drive away.
However, Razack said, he witnessed the stabbing. According to Razack, a group of persons, including the deceased and his assailant, along with the man that runs the bar, were all dancing and having a nice time when he left to go to the bathroom. While returning, he observed the commotion, with the assailant and the deceased holding each other until the assailant obtained some leverage, whipped out a knife and pushed it into the back of the deceased. The barman tried to separate the men, but to no avail. The deceased fell to the ground and the assailant ran away. The crowd panicked, and when Razack begged a car driver to drop the bleeding man to the hospital, he refused, stating that if the man died in his car, he would get trouble.
Following the incident, police at Blairmont said a man from Burnham Drive, Rosignol was arrested at his parents’ residence for Thatpaul’s death, at around 04: 30 hours. A senior investigator disclosed that the detained man has since confessed to the stabbing, and told detectives that he did not know Thatpaul, whom he stabbed with a knife he was carrying following an argument and a scuffle.
Police said a single wound was inflicted in the upper right section of the back of the deceased. Thatpaul’s body is lying at the Fort Wellington Hospital mortuary awaiting a post- mortem examination.
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