Shortly after the Guyana Police Force announced plans to charge four persons with the September 2020 murder of 17-year-old, Haresh Singh, the charges were instituted on Tuesday afternoon.
The accused appeared in court virtually and had the charges read to them by Magistrate, Peter Hugh at the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court.
They were not required to enter a plea to the charge of murder, contrary to common law, and were remanded to prison until July 12, 2021; the case was transferred to the Blairmont Magistrate’s Court.
Those charged are 29-year-old Philip Anderson called ‘Ratman’ of #3 Village, West Coast Berbice; 27-year-old Joel Gittins called ‘Bolo’ of Jangotown, East Coast Demerara; 27-year-old Glaston Henry called ‘Gladwin Henry’ and ‘Soldierman’ of #3 Village, West Coast Berbice and 21-year-old Charles Scott called ‘Bucko’ of Jarvis Street Rosignol, Berbice.
The charges were instituted on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) some nine months after Singh’s 12-year-old brother found him murdered,
Singh of Number 3 Village, West Coast Berbice, was found in a bloodied state on September 9, 2020, in the backdam. His motorcycle was also found torched.
A post mortem examination revealed that he died from brain hemorrhage and blunt trauma to the head, compounded by compression injuries to the neck.
He was killed in the height of heated protests over the deaths of two teens – Isaiah and Joel Henry; they too were brutally murdered the weekend prior in the backlands.
Haresh’s grandfather and two of his uncles were arrested in relation to the murder of the Henry teens.
The family has always maintained that the men are innocent although they were arrested after it was revealed that they were also in the backdam on the day of the gruesome murder of the teens.
They were later released with no evidence found to tie them to the crime. His death has always been regarded as retaliation for the murder of the Henry boys.
Only last week, the police issued a wanted bulletin for Gladwin Henry, a relative of the Henry boys, for questioning over the murder of Singh.
