Stabroek News
May 7, 2001

A father and his ten-year-old son from Enterprise and a man from Non Pariel, were yesterday found shot dead in the backdam about a mile west of their villages.

Dead are Bemchand Barran, 41 of Lot 3 Enterprise Squatting Area and his son Mervyn, 10 a pupil of the Enterprise Primary School. The other man killed was Dhanpaul Jagdeo, 25, of Lot 334 Non Pariel. The bodies of the father and son were discovered in the Vigilance/Friendship backdam where they usually do their fishing, while that of Jagdeo was found a good distance away.

Barran was the father of eight children with ages ranging from five to 20 years. Mervyn was his fifth child.

Jagdeo, who was married just a year ago, is survived by his wife Bibi and a four-month-old daughter, Naomi.

Barran's wife, Mahadai, last evening told Stabroek News that she found out that her husband and child were dead after her husband had failed to return home from a fishing expedition.

She said that her husband left home about 2:30 am on his bicycle with Mervyn to do some fishing and shrimping (activities he did in the cane cutting off-season to earn an income) in the backdam.

Normally he would return about 8:00 am to 9:00 am but after he did not appear, she asked her third son Navindra, 16, to look for his father and brother, as it was not like them to stay out so late. He returned about an hour later and told her that his father and brother were dead. They also came upon the dead body of Jagdeo and they took a message to his home.

At the time Stabroek News visited the Barran's home, where a large number of people had gathered with the family to offer their sympathies, Navindra and his elder brothers were reported to be giving statements to the police at Vigilance.

Barran's widow, who said she did not see the bodies of her husband and son, said her son, Navindra, had told her that her husband had been shot in the head and neck while Mervyn, who was found a distance away from where his father had fallen off his bicycle, had been shot in the temple. No one could estimate the time when they had been shot.

Jagdeo's widow told Stabroek News that she learnt that her husband was dead at about 3:00 pm when the relatives of Barran brought the news home. She said that he left home at about 5:50 am to work with a man called `Jingie' in the Friendship backdam. Jagdeo's body was reportedly still on his bicycle when he was found. She said his father identified the body which was brought out of the area by the police last night.