Five youth charged with murder of Berbice man

Five men between the ages of 18 and 27 have been charged with the brutal murder of 61-year-old Bheim Evans, a farmer of Woodley Park Village, West Coast Berbice.

The men are all from villages on the West Coast of Berbice; four of them are unemployed. They have been identified as Brian Evans, 22, of No. 11 Village; Ryan Dhanraj, 27; Samuel “Chucky” Vanbrook, 22; Leeward “Boysie” Chung, 22 – all of Bath Settlement and 18-year-old labourer, James David of No.12 Village.

The men appeared before Magistrate Peter Hugh at the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. They were not required to plea and were remanded to prison and the case was postponed to December 8, 2021, for report.

The 61-year-old farmer was brutally beaten to death on November 13 while attempting to save his 21-year-old son from the men reportedly who attacked him.

The incident occurred at around 20:30hrs at Block D Bath Settlement, WCB. Evans was beaten with a rope, cutlass and the men used pepper spray on his private parts; they also threw gasoline on his face and then threw his body at the corner of a trench.

Evans was rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police later arrested the suspects.

Meanwhile, Evan’s son, Tichan Persaud had told the News Room that the men approached him while on his way home and started to beat him with cutlasses and chains, saying: “I know what me father do”.

The young man said he told the men that he did not know what they were speaking of but the men continued to beat him with a rope and cutlass.

They then chained him up and by that time, his father arrived. The attackers then turned their attention to the father.

The men accused Evans of stealing a silver chain, a gold chain and eight silver rings from one of the suspects’ house.

Persaud said he kept telling the men that his father did no such thing but they continued to beat them and eventually his father lost consciousness.