Police identify murder victim

POLICE have identified the dead man discovered in the outskirts of Barrackpore last week Monday with bullet wounds to the back, and mouth stuffed with cloth, as that of Mark Charles, 42, of Ganga Lane, San Juan. The discovery of Charles’ body occurred days after Ashmead Baksh, son of Naparima MP Nizam Baksh, was murdered in Barrackpore.

Police, who retrieved a spent shell at the scene at NGC Trace, Cachipe Village, said yesterday that Homicide detectives have not ruled out a possible link between Baksh’s kidnap/murder and Charles’ death. When a farmer stumbled upon the body around midday on Monday, according to a police report, its hands and feet were bound behind its back with duct tape. Police also observed that pieces of cloth were stuffed in the mouth. Police retrieved a spent shell embedded in the pitch road below the body. Investigators are working on the theory that Charles was virtually dragged from his bed and taken to Moruga where he was executed. Charles lived alone. Homicide detectives probing Baksh’s killing, confirmed to Sunday Newsday yesterday that one of the two brothers of Platanite, Barrackpore held for questioning, has been reported missing.