Venezuelan man stabbed to death at Ruby Backdam

Police are on the hunt for a man who reportedly stabbed 24-year-old Venezuelan national Tony Birza to death just after midnight on Saturday.

Police Headquarters reported that the incident occurred at about 00:45hrs at Ruby Backdam, East Bank Essequibo. According to the police, Birza known as ‘Bush’ and his brother were on their way home on a bicycle; the brothers were drinking at a shop and stopped to talk to two “Spanish girls”, the police said.

Police said the girls were under a shed on the eastern side of the road; there the suspect approached Birza and they got involved in a heated argument. The suspect then took a ‘shiny object’ from his pants and stabbed Birza once to the abdomen and escaped on foot in an unknown direction.

Residents in the area launched a search for the suspect after Birza’s brother raised an alarm.

The police were later summoned and Birza was taken to the Leonora Cottage Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The body was later transported to the Ezekiel Funeral Home awaiting an autopsy.