Teenager amongst four held in slaughter of mason

Dead: Mahendra Ghanie of Bloomfield Village, Corentyne Berbice.
Berbice police ranks arrested four persons, including a 14-year-old, who are accused of chopping to pieces and burning a 21-year-old Corentyne mason in a burial ground at # 55 Villages Friday.

Police confirmed that they have obtained confessions from two of the suspects, who have indicated that the victim, Mahendra Ghanie, also known as “Sanjay, was slain because he was suspected of stealing two goats from his boss.

Ghanie, of Lot 196 Bloomfield Village, Corentyne, disappeared on Monday, after telling his mother, Indranie Seenarine that he was leaving for work at the cemetery yard where his employer, ‘Bobby’ and ‘Jah Jah’ live.

According to Seenarine, her son came to her sometime around 17:30 hrs and told he that “Jah Jah call fuh meh go wuk.”

She said he left home about an hour later and at approximately 20:00hrs he called her to say that he had arrived at his place of employment at Number 55 Village Cemetery yard. She stated that she never heard from him again.

“I tried calling his cellphone the next day, but (got) no answer. I called all day and nothing”, Seenarine said. On Wednesday, she made a missing person’s report and also tried calling her son once again. She decided to launch a search with her children along with other relatives. They searched the cemetery yard Friday and were about to give up when they noticed what appeared to be a hole near a fence.

The victim’s brother, Razack Ghanie, said he called on his cousin to assist him in checking the hole. As they dug, he discovered what appeared to be a human bone. Four other bone fragments were discovered, together with a piece of cloth which matched the colour of the shirt his brother was wearing when he left home. Relatives said they also found a phone in the hole. They immediately contacted the police.

During a search, residents of the Number 55 Village, contacted Ghanie’s relatives and reportedly told them that the blockmaker’s boss was seen lighting a ‘big fire’ behind of his house.

Meanwhile, according to the missing young man’s mother, about five weeks ago, her son and his boss were involved in an argument after the man accused her son of stealing his SIM card.

“Sanjay showed him the SIM card and it turn out, that is not he own, and them did argue and Sanjay did stop work, and then them make up and everything been seem okay”.

She claimed that this was the only issue that she knew about between the two.

The employer and a worker were arrested on Thursday while two other workers were arrested yesterday morning.

Ghanie resided in Bloomfield with his mother, two sisters and one brother. His father is expected to return to Guyana Saturday.