Missing taxi driver found murdered

Police reports revealed that Hugo Forde of North Coast Road, Maracas, was alerted to a foul stench at about 3 pm on Monday, and when he looked down the 20-foot precipice, he saw a man’s body.

He alerted E-999 officers who went to the scene along with a district medical officer.

Fire officers were also called to the scene to assist in retrieving the body. They used ropes and equipment to pull the partially decomposed body from the precipice.

The body bore wounds to the head and neck, and initial checks by the DMO revealed that the victim had been shot in the head.

The description of the man fitted that of missing taxi driver Bhola Gunness of Kandahar Street, St James. He was reported missing since Friday by his wife Angela.

Angela, who was interviewed by Newsday on Monday, said her husband left home at 1 pm on Friday, saying he was going to drop a man at Maracas.

When he failed to return home, relatives searched unsuccessfully for Gunness.

A missing person’s report was lodged with the St James and Maracas Bay Police Stations.

When the body was found yesterday, Angela was contacted and she identified the body at the Forensic Science Centre. The shocked woman was comforted by relatives after viewing the body.

The dead man’s daughter, Tara Ramkissoon, was in tears yesterday as she stared at a picture of her father.

She described him as a good person who cared deeply about his family.

She said her father was a diabetic who did not deserve to suffer such a horrible death.

His 18-month-old granddaughter Melicia kept looking into the road, hoping to see her grandfather.

Ramkissoon called for swift justice for her father.

Up to yesterday, 277 people had been murdered for the year.