Man murdered, body burnt

ACCUSED of having a steamy affair with another man’s wife, a 27-year-old welder met a brutal death. His partially burnt body, which bore what appeared to be chop wounds, was found a mere walking distance from his home on Sunday night. Police sources said around 10 pm on Sunday, they found the partially burnt body of Rishi Nanlal buried under coconut branches and galvanise sheets in bushes at the back of his Timital Road, San Francique, Penal home. Police stumbled on the body while searching for him, following a missing person report made by his mother, Premattee Guerra, who lived opposite her son’s home.

Investigators said the body appeared to have chops wounds to the neck and head and burns on the chest area. Investigators are questioning  three people, including a Guyanese couple, in connection with the murder. Nanlal, father of a six-year-old boy, lived alone after separating from his wife two years ago. Recalling the last moments with her son, Nanlal’s distraught mother said around 6.30 am on Friday, her son ate breakfast at her home before going to work. Guerra said around 11.15 pm that same day, she heard her son engaged in a heated argument with a man who, on previous  occasions, accused Nanlal of having an affair with his wife. “Afterwards, the man tell my son to come inside and take a drink. After that I hear a loud bang and everything get silent,” Guerra said.  

Guerra, a mother of three, said she did not pay any attention to the noise and believed Nanlal and the man had settled their dispute. When she did not see her son on Saturday and Sunday, Guerra said she became worried and sent her husband to look for him. “His (Nanlal) house was open, but he was not there,” she said. Guerra said she telephoned police after calling her son’s workplace and was told he never showed up for work. “My son wasn’t with the woman. He used to only talk to she,” Guerra sobbed. An autopsy is expected to be performed today at the Forensic Science Centre in St James. Investigators of the Siparia CID and Homicide South Bureau are continuing investigations.