Venezuelans among 5 remanded for murder of miners

Five persons, including four Venezuelan nationals, were on Wednesday remanded to prison for the murder of two men, who were killed during a brutal robbery at their Blackwater Backdam, Cuyuni River mining camp.

Nicholas Ceaser called ‘Wild buck’, 22, of Yarrowkabra Village, Linden Soesdyke Highway was charged jointly with Venezuelan nationals Juan Oscar Calderon Lopez called ‘Gordo’, 25; Jose Ramon Tovar called ‘Bashein’, 24; Luis Miguel Monrroy, 35; and Jhonny Gonzalvez called ‘Sankey Pankey’, 47.

The men appeared before Magistrate Dylon Bess at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and were not required to plead to the charge which alleged that between August 4 and 5, 2021, they murdered Suresh Bachan and Steven Niles.

The defendants were remanded to prison until September 20 and the case was transferred to the Kamarang Magistrate’s Court.

Bachan, 62 and Niles, 31 were employed at a mining camp located at Blackwater Backdam; on the night of August 4, Bachan and Niles remained on site where they set up camp about 100 meters apart.

However, the next morning, when the General Manager and several of his workers turned up to work, they discovered both Niles and Bachan dead.  Bachan was found lying on his back on a makeshift bed, while Niles was found in a hammock lying on his back as well. The suspect(s) reportedly made off with an AR 15 firearm and the top mat from the sluice box.

An autopsy conducted on Bachan found that he died from blunt force trauma to the head, while Niles died from a fractured spine as well as blunt force trauma to the head.