Stabroek News
May 11, 2001

Two men and a child brutally shot dead on Sunday were laid to rest yesterday at large funerals and the police are "making some headway" in their investigations into the murders.

This disclosure was made yesterday by Home Affairs Minister, Ronald Gajraj but no other details were provided.

Responding to Stabroek News on the investigations at the funeral service of cane cutter/fisherman Bemchand Barran and his ten-year-old son Mervyn and weeder Dhanpaul Jagdeo, 25 of Non Pariel, Gajraj said that persons were being questioned by a high level team of police. He would not say whether there were any suspects.

Barran leaves to mourn his wife Mahadai and seven children ages ranging from 5 to 20. Jagdeo leaves to mourn his wife Bibi Zameena and a four-month-old child.

The Barrans' bodies were found on Long Dam in Enterprise Backdam, which runs in an east/west direction parallel to Vigilance/Friendship on Sunday morning by one of Barran's sons after the two had been missing for some hours. Jagdeo's body was said to have been found in Lusignan but this is being disputed by family members and others who removed the body.

No one could offer any information on the findings of the post-mortem examinations. The relatives had been told to return for such information yesterday but they said they were too busy with funeral preparations to do so. The police could offer no information in this regard.

At the funeral service which was held according to Hindu rites for the Barrans at their residence at Lot 3 Enterprise Squatting Area, Prime Minister Sam Hinds said that it was incidents such as the shooting to death of the three persons which could put Guyana in peril. Calling for people to remain calm, he said that government would do all it possibly could to ensure that those who slew the men and boy were brought to justice.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Pandit Reepu Daman Persaud, urged that people pray for justice. He said that "we must pray" that those responsible for the death of honest hard-working citizens and an innocent child were brought to justice.

General Secretary of the Women's Progressive Organisation (WPO), the women's arm of the PPP/Civic, Indra Chandarpal, condemned the killings. She said that all women should deplore the "cowardly act. This is not about ethnicity. This is about humanity". The people, she said, were poor and were not killed because of wealth as was the case in violent robberies. She said they were honest hard-working people who, while others were sleeping in the safety and comfort of their homes were eking out a living.

She said that the state would have to assist the women and children who will also need emotional support and pledged that the WPO would play its part.

Minister of Human Services, Dr Dale Bisnauth, said that his ministry would be looking at how it could help the widows, while the Guyana Relief Council headed by Yvonne Hinds was also looking at the tragedy with a view to giving them some assistance.

General Secretary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Komal Chand argued that the post-elections unrest had led to the death of the three persons.

Also attending the funeral service of the Barrans and Jagdeo were Minister of Agriculture Navin Chandarpal, Minister within the Ministry of Human Services and Bibi Shadick, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Harripersaud Nokta, General Secretary of the PPP Donald Ramotar, ROAR Leader Ravi Dev, TUF Leader Manzoor Nadir and Guyana Action Party/Working People's Alliance MP Sheila Holder.

The mourners had to shuttle between the funeral service of Jagdeo at the Enterprise Baptist Church at one end of the community to the Barrans' at the other end of the village.

The mourners arrived from all along the East Coast Demerara and Georgetown in trucks, minibuses, and cars, on bicycles and on foot. The scene was generally sombre as people whispered about the future of the widowed women and children of the two men who died on Sunday. No classes were held at the schools in Enterprise yesterday as the whole village mourned.

The planned procession from Coldingen to Enterprise did not take place. Stabroek News was told that many people were keen on being a part of the procession to express solidarity with the relatives and friends of the deceased, but because of logistics and for reasons of security they were advised against holding the procession.