Four charged with murder of Berbice taxi driver

Four persons were remanded to prison on Friday for the murder of 47-year-old Mohamed Haniff known as ‘Raymond’ who was chopped to death by three masked men when they invaded his Experiment, West Coast Berbice home on September 12, 2020.

Fifty-six-year-old Sarju Mattadin, a cash crop farmer of Bath Settlement; 52-year-old Devon McCalmon, a labourer of Number 28 Village; Royston Dowden, 29, a labourer of Bath Settlement and 21-year-old Ivan Lindo, also a labourer and security guard of Waterloo Bath were not required to plea to the indictable charge.

The four appeared before Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh at the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court.

Meanwhile, Mattadin was represented by Attorney-at-Law Bernard DaSilva who told the court that his client was beaten by the Police while in custody; in this regard, the attorney request permission for his client to seek medical attention and same was granted by the Magistrate.

The four will return to court on October 2.

Police Headquarters in a statement revealed that on the night in question, Haniff and his wife were home alone when the perpetrators men invaded the house at approximately 21:00h.

They immediately pounced on Haniff and demanded cash but he told them he did not have any; after battering the taxi driver, the bandits escaped without stealing anything and left the wife untouched.

Haniff was picked up by a neighbour and rushed to the Fort Wellington Public Hospital and later transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital where he died at around 01:30h.

The 44-year-old wife was subsequently arrested and was accused of orchestrating the attack on her husband after facing financial trouble; she was later released on station bail.

Haniff had only returned to Guyana from St Martin a few days before he was murdered; he had in his possession a large quantity and cash and jewelry.