28-Y-0 charged with murder of chainsaw operator

Twenty-eight-year Roy Gladstone was on Monday charged with the murder of 40-year-old Elvis Benedict, a chainsaw operator of Sand Hills, Upper Berbice River, whose badly wounded body was found on the roadway of the said village on June 19.

Gladstone, also of Sand Hills, appeared before Magistrate Peter Hugh at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court where he was charged and remanded to prison until June 26.

Gladstone was unrepresented and was not required to plea to the indictable charge.

It is alleged that the accused and the victim had an ongoing dispute and the day before the incident, Benedict went to the home of Gladstone and issued several threats to him and his family.

The following day Benedict’s body was found with injuries to his back, abdomen, arm and face; he was picked up in a conscious state and rushed to the New Amsterdam Hospital where he identified his killer to the Police before dying four hours later.

Police Headquarters said the suspect was arrested after the victim made a “dying declaration.”