Relatives of Raoul Melville called ‘Tony’ made a harrowing discovery on March 4, 2021 when they when they stumbled on his lifeless body in his Norton Street, Bagotstown East Bank Demerara home.
Two years after the tragic day, his mother Shaifali Melville still clings to hope that they will get justice.
The 31-year-old taxi driver was discovered by his 11-year-old son at about 8:45 hrs.
According to the police, the boy found his father lying motionless on the floor in the hall area of the house. It was also reported that the front door was ajar and the bedroom was ransacked. There was no sign of forced entry.
A post-mortem examination was performed the following day by Dr. Nehaul Singh, who determined that Melville died of brain haemorrhage due to multiple blunt trauma to the head.
Mrs Melville, during an interview with the News Room this week, recounted that morning she sent her grandson tell his father that his car was ready for pick up from a nearby mechanic. She lives in the same yard with her son.
It was then that the boy discovered his father, reportedly murdered in his home.
“He run and come back right to the front and said mommy mommy like Tony dead. I said stop talking stupidness, How he gon dead.
“[When] I run and go, I see my son lying flat on the ground. I look at him, I ain’t see no movement nothing, he ain’t breathing. He was on the ground when we go and find him. Part of the chair was covering his knee cause is more than one persons do this thing, one persons can’t kill my son…they had to lash he in his head. The autopsy said that, I know that’s what happened,” the woman erecounted.
The father of three lived in his home with his reputed wife and two children but on that night, the wife took the children to stay with a relative because one of the children was unwell.
At some point in the night, Melville and other persons were liming at the corner of Norton Street and these persons alleged that someone threatened to murder him.
Police interrogated the person but he claims that he left to go into the interior that night and did not return until five days later. He allegedly said he returned to clear his name after he was told that police were looking for him.
The police haven’t been able to crack the case.
“There are a lot of people who know what happened because my son was outside there and where all this talking happened, the individual said so and so and people don’t want to talk [testify] but they know,” Mrs Melville said.
The woman explained that her son had an issue with the suspect prior to his death. His car was damaged by the person during an accident and the person committed to paying for the damages. However, Melville told his mother that upon time to collect the money, the person refused to pay and allegedly ran him out of their yard.
She suspects that the issue escalated and led to her son’s demise.
“Not a day go by that I don’t study about my son. Every single day I does think about that boy and all I am looking for justice, I have to get justice,” the emotional woman said.
She said her grandson was traumatized by the events and the young boy did not focus in school during the weeks that followed. Mrs Melville said she became worried and due to the COVID-19 restrictions that were still in place, he could not undergo physical counselling sessions.
“He was crying a lot like he couldn’t focus because that year was challenging for him because he had to write common entrance that year and it was COVID.
“He would remember things like oh at one time he [Melville] asked me [her grandson] for something and I [her grandson] didn’t give him [his father] and I should’ve. I does say no you “didn’t know this would’ve happened,” she said.
Not only is the family grappling with grief but they are also fearful of living there. They installed cameras as a precautionary measure.
