As the family struggles to come to grips with the brutal rape and murder of 12-year-old Leonard Archibald, they are calling on the government to reintroduce the death penalty.
One of the young man’s cousins, Alitia Jordan told News Room that due to the badly decomposed state of the young man’s body, the family is unable to have an open casket funeral.
“I am pleading with the Government of Guyana to bring back the death penalty. How many more mothers have to deal with this? Leonard Archibald is my first cousin by his father side. Just imagine the hurt we are going through. He was just a kid, just a kid to had to go through this cruel death. What justice can we get if these two men are just put in jail for a few years?” Jordan told News Room.
Young Archibald went missing on September 17, after he left home to pick up two of his sisters from a birthday party in a nearby village. However, he never returned home and was last spotted riding a bicycle on the Sisters Village Public Road.
Two young men from the area, one of whom is known for molesting young boys, were arrested and on Friday, they confessed to the brutal crime. They have been identified as Hilary Edwards (the main suspect) and Nicolas Christopher.
As such, police found the young man’s bicycle in the Berbice river behind the house of the two accused. Archibald’s badly decomposed body was found on Sunday, September 23 at Korthberaadt River which is located about three miles from Brothers Village, East Bank Berbice.
The cousin acknowledged that the death penalty will not bring back Archibald.
“But for someone to violently b%##er a 12-year-old then tie him up like an Iguana and drop him in the sea, they are not humans, they are raging dogs and if we let them out again they will do like what all dogs do… strike again…I am begging Mr Granger bring back the death penalty. We can’t afford to waste taxpayers dollars on animals,” Jordan said.
The main accused Hilary reportedly told detectives that he dumped the body in the river after Archibald became unconscious during the rape.
