Mystery over cremated trunk victims

FISH MONGER Suresh Persaud

THE two men shot and cremated in a car Tuesday night by gunmen in the troubled East Coast Demerara village of Buxton, were almost certainly a cop and his fishmonger friend but their family members were yesterday praying their worst fears were not true.

Police probing the latest mystery killing in Buxton have, however, traced the car the two were burnt in to the missing cop and all indications are that the charred human remains found in the trunk of the torched vehicle are those of the two missing close friends, sources said yesterday.

Why they were on a freshly-ditched and dangerous road in Buxton where they were apparently waylaid and shot dead before being torched in the car in nearby Strathspey Tuesday night was deeply puzzling, relatives said yesterday.

The distraught wife of Suresh Persaud (top), Lalita Ramoutar, after she returned from the Vigilance Police Station yesterday and two of Suresh Persaud’s four children (bottom)

Ramoutar was last seen driving the vehicle, subsequently identified as his sister Dharandai Callender's gold-coloured car, PJJ 6771 on Tuesday.

None of the two men have been seen since.

 

Kaieteur News understands that Persaud left home shortly after 11:00 on Tuesday. He, along with Ramoutar, uplifted the car which belonged to Ramoutar's sister at around midday and reportedly headed for Unity, Mahaica.

There are reports that the men were slain earlier on Tuesday night in another area and then placed in the trunk of the car, which was set on fire.

According to reports, around 21:30 hours on Tuesday, an anonymous caller telephoned the police informing them that two persons in a car had been shot near Brusche Dam, Buxton.

The caller also reported seeing several persons, who appeared to be gunmen, pulling the occupants from the car. The two persons, who appeared to be dead, were then placed in the car trunk.

According to the caller, the car was then driven away.

Acting on this information, police first ventured to Brusche Dam, but found no sign of the corpses, although streaks of blood were reportedly seen on the ground.

They subsequently went to Strathspey after receiving further information.

It was then that they saw the car. Flames were still emanating from the trunk. They put out the blaze, and upon checking, saw the charred remains of the two persons.

The remains were taken to the Georgetown Hospital Mortuary, while the vehicle was taken to the Vigilance Police Station.

At the time of the discovery, police were unable to ascertain the identity of the victims. According to a police release, upon further investigations, the engine and chassis number on the car were ascertained and this allowed police to identify the owner.

It was this that led police to believe that one of the victims was Ramoutar.

The missing policeman's relatives yesterday gave statements to the investigators. However they were unable to positively identify the badly burnt remains.

Detectives have been unable to give a motive for the killing.

The brutal double execution is the latest in a spate of gruesome murders that have occurred on the East Coast of Demerara in the past three years.