A Canadian deportee of Number 67 Village, Corentyne, Berbice was, today, charged with the 2016 murder of a fisherman whose decomposing body was discovered in a sandpit a short distance away from his home.
Days after his arrest, Monilall Sarjou, 47, appeared before Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court to answer to the charge.
Sarjou was not required to plead to the indictable charge which stated that between August 22 and August 24, 2016, at Number 68 Village Corentyne Berbice, he unlawfully murdered fisherman, Levan Chanderpaul.
The Police Prosecution requested two weeks, and as such, the accused’s Attorney-at-law, Leslie Sobers told the court that the prosecution had no evidence and so they were going to utilize the two weeks to primarily salvage and attempt to pull things together.
Nevertheless, Sarjou was remanded and the case was transferred to the Springlands’ Magistrate’s Court in Berbice where he is expected to reappear on April 19, 2017.
On August 24, 2016, the battered and bound body of an alleged piracy gang member was found in the backlands of Number 68 Village in Corentyne, Berbice.
Reports indicated that it was the body of 28-year-old Levan Chanderpaul, of Number 68 Village.
The discovery was made at about 19:30hrs by a teenager who was returning to the village from the back dam.
Chanderpaul’s body at the time bore several marks of violence.
This online publication had reported that the now dead man was in December 2011 charged and placed before the court after he was suspected to have been a part of a notorious pirate gang.
He was slated to appear at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court on the day before his body was found, on a simple larceny and threatening language charge, but was absent.
Post mortem results on Chanderpaul’s body revealed that the victim suffered a fractured skull and succumbed from shock and hemorrhage.
Sources revealed that the accused, Sarjou, was deported from Canada in 2009 for allegedly slashing a woman to her throat.
Sarjou also reportedly denied harming the fisherman, claiming that they had a close friendship. However, reports in the media indicated that the two were involved in a dispute which was fueled by a drug deal gone bad, sometime earlier in 2016.
The deportee reportedly gave a sum of cash to Chanderpaul to purchase drugs but the fisherman failed to honour the undertaking; converting same to his own use and fleeing the village.
Police’s initial attempts to apprehend the accused proved futile as Sarjou had fled the area, abandoning his vehicle which is presently at the Skeldon Police Station.
Seven months later, ranks in the Georgetown district received information that the suspect was still living at the Number 68 Village address, upon which they proceeded to arrest him. (Ramona Luthi)
