The lifeless body of a 51-year-old male was discovered along Unity Street, La Grange, West Bank Demerara, early Sunday morning.
The body was identified as that of James Stuart, also known as “Goobie”, a labourer, of Lot 101 Unity Street, popularly known as Race Dam.
According to information reaching INews, James was drinking at ‘Ann Jones’ shop, situated a few houses away from the corner where his body was discovered. He had mysteriously disappeared minutes after midnight only to be discovered by market vendors shortly after sunrise.
James’ brother, Lloyd Richards related that he was surprised by his friends while on his way to the market, when they asked, ‘“When last have you seen Goobie?”’
When he enquired the reason behind the query, the friends said a body was discovered on Race Dam, which resembled Goobie.
Richards then contacted his sister and rushed to the La Grange Police Station, where they were informed that a body was, indeed, discovered and were then shown a picture on a cell phone of the dead person’s face, but they were unable to identify the individual.
The dead man’s siblings then headed to the Ezekiel Funeral Home where the body was confirmed to be that of James.
Richards noted that it seemed as though his brother was beaten severely, which resulted in what he described as his brother’s eye protruding out of his head.
He explained that the incident allegedly occurred around 03:00h. After residents made the discovery, the Police were summoned to the scene, and the body was first taken to the police station and then to the funeral home.
James was described as a jovial person who hardly had any problems with people.
According to the dead man’s family, he had developed an excessive drinking habit, usually drinking by himself.
The 51-year-old did not have a wife or children, but was very close to his siblings, who resided near him.
It is suspected that robbery was the motive behind his beating as it was not the first time James had been robbed, his relatives related.
One member of the family also noted that he observed that violent robberies were a developing problem in the community, since many people would appear in the hospital beaten and robbed.
Police are currently investigating the matter. No arrests had been made up to press time.
A post-mortem on the body was scheduled to be conducted today.
