Orphanage from where murdered boy went missing under probe
Stabroek News
January 7, 2003
The Probation and Welfare Department of the Human Services Ministry has begun investigating the Sad’r Boys Orphanage as police continue to probe the death of 14-year-old Raheem Abdool who had disappeared from the institution.
According to Minister within the Human Services Ministry, Bibi Shadick, the investigation has been launched into the inner workings of the orphanage. This is to find out how the institution is being run, she said, how the boy managed to disappear and to determine where systems need to be put in place. A report of the Welfare Department’s findings is expected to be submitted to her tomorrow, she added.
It is now three weeks since residents of the Sophia Front area made the grisly discovery of the boy’s battered body, which was found lying in a drain at the adjoining Liliendaal Railway Embankment, East Coast Demerara.
The young boy’s body was discovered at around 8:10 am on the morning of December 17th. His back bore black and blue welts and severe lacerations. There was also bruising to his chest and a small hole was visible on his left rib cage, while there were a few cuts under his chin and his neck appeared to have been broken.
A resident in the area told Stabroek News that a navy blue 4X4 was present at around midnight in the vicinity of where the boy was found. And at the corner of the drain, where the body lay, there was evidence that a vehicle’s wheel had covered the grass. The prevailing theory is that the boy was killed elsewhere and his body dumped from the blue 4X4.
Following more than a week of speculation as to his identity, it was discovered that the boy was an orphan who had gone missing from the institution the night before his body was found.
The housemother at the orphanage told Stabroek News that the boy was presumed missing and that a report had been made to the police after he had vanished. She also admitted that relatives had not been informed of the boy’s disappearance. She said she held off informing relatives in the hope of gaining more information, prior to making the disclosure.
Meanwhile, Police spokesman David Ramnarine said there has been no significant development in the police investigations.
Recently Ramnarine revealed that investigators had received leads which have not proven useful and he said the police are encouraging members of the public to make contact if they have any leads on the boy’s death.
He, however, assured that the investigation, which he said is a murder probe on the basis of the discovery of the body and the post-mortem report, is still active.
