Cambio dealer Farouk Razac more than likely died several hours before he was taken to the Georgetown Hospital on Monday morning, the doctor who pronounced him dead was said to have told the police.
And bits of the businessman's skin were found under his fingernails, the autopsy conducted on Tuesday has also revealed. Last night police were examining leads that Razac might have been trying to free his neck as he was being strangled, hence the skin under his fingernails. Razac had marks around his neck at the time he was discovered and his hands were also around his neck. He died as a result of asphyxiation due to possible ligature strangulation, according to the autopsy. Sources say that the ligature could have been removed without disturbing Razac's hands around his neck.
Police up to press time last night were still questioning Razac's wife, Carolan Lynch and her physical trainer both of whom were in the house at the time when the cambio dealer was discovered dead on the floor of his bedroom. Police had also taken into custody the businessman's security guards and questioned them, but they have been released.
Lynch and the physical trainer have been in custody since Monday afternoon.
Sources close to the businessman's relatives told reporters that Razac had taken out a US$1M insurance with an insurance company overseas. This newspaper also understands that Razac had taken home US$400,000 cash, property of Swiss House Cambio, but this money cannot be accounted for so far. Reports are that relatives of the dead man are trying to ascertain who the local agent of the insurance company is as well as to determine where the US currency might be. The businessman is to be laid to rest tomorrow according to muslim rites.
Meanwhile, relatives would not say what they suspect might have caused the man's death. Stabroek News was told that there were no guards on duty at Razac's Ireng Place, Bel Air Park home on Sunday night.
According to information, Lynch has told police that she left her house around 8 am to take her child to school. When she returned the physical trainer arrived and she was preparing to go through her exercise routine. She however realized at that point that Razac who normally leaves for work between 6 am and 7 am had not come downstairs. It was then that he was discovered. He would have been taken to the hospital around 8.45 am.
Fazeel Razac, the dead man's brother had told reporters on Monday that his brother was hypertensive and died as a result of that condition. Relatives were mulling whether to contract a private pathologist to conduct a second autopsy, but this according to reports is no longer under consideration. Instead, they will send tissue samples for toxicological testing overseas.
Farouk Razac was recently before the court along with Lynch on gun and ammunition charges. They were charged jointly with two counts of unlawful possession of ammunition and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm stemming from a November 10 raid on their Bel Air property. They were granted $1 million bail each and the case is currently being tried. One of four witnesses has already testified in the case.
The raid on Razac's property was said to have followed an earlier search conducted on a house in North Ruimveldt where a young woman, Rhonda Gomes, an associate of the businessman, was living. At Gomes' home, police found an assortment of weapons and cocaine. Gomes had pleaded guilty to several charges brought against her stemming from the discoveries and was sentenced to three years in prison last year December.
Razac was also detained last year May during the joint services' robust search in the city following the theft of 30 AK-47 rifles from the army storage bond at Camp Ayanganna.
He had been at the helm of Swiss House Cambio for several years after the business which started out as a watch repair shop was handed down to him from his father.
Police in a statement on Monday disclosed that Lynch discovered the businessman crouched on the floor. Blood was oozing from his mouth and his hands were around his neck, the police statement said, adding that a television set, which is usually at the foot of the bed, was found on the floor. The police said Razac was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The statement added that further examination of his body revealed a small wound on his head and marks around his neck and that a doctor at the GHPC opined that he might have died before arriving at the hospital. The doctor according to sources did indicate to the police that Razac might have died some four hours before arriving at the hospital. This would put his death around 5 am that morning. According to reports the doctor could not put this in his report as he was not a pathologist. Razac was taken to the hospital mortuary and the autopsy was conducted the next day but by this time it would have been difficult for Dr. Nehaul Singh who conducted the post-mortem to determine how long before arrival at the hospital the man might have died because the body had been frozen. Police further stated that Razac's house was guarded and there were no signs of forced entry.