The community of Vreed-en-Hoop, West
Coast Demerara was in shock yesterday
morning following the brutal slaying of
a villager and boutique manager.
Mark Gill called 'Markie', 31,
manager of Big
Gill Fashions in Water Street
and of Lot 10 New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop,
was found in a pool of blood in his
bedroom around 8 am yesterday. His body
bore several chops with a gaping one
almost severing his neck.
Relatives and police were up to press
time last night baffled as to who could
have carried out the dastardly attack.
Stabroek
News was told that
no one could enter Gill's yard unless he
first opened the front gate. Police are
therefore working on the theory that it
was someone he knew.
Senior police sources in the area
said several persons including
neighbours and the dead man's maid were
questioned.
A release from the Police Public
Relations Unit said Gill's
partly-undressed body was found in a
room by an employee who had reported for
duty. The employee, according to the
release, found one of Gill's doors
opened. Police said the dead man was
last seen alive by a close relative who
took him home around 10 pm Thursday.
When Stabroek
News visited the dead
man's home yesterday scores of relatives
and friends had converged. Police ranks
were busy conducting investigations. One
of Gill's siblings told this newspaper
that he had lived at the house with his
parents who were both overseas.
According to reports, Gill's parents
left the country on Wednesday on
business and are due to arrive home
tomorrow.
Relatives told this newspaper that
Gill was the manager of his father's
store Big Gill Fashions on Water Street.
Stabroek News was told that some time
around 6.30 on Thursday evening, the
maid departed securing the house and the
gate.
Gill arrived home around 10 pm, one
relative confirmed. At the time, no one
was with him.
It is being surmised that someone
whom he knew might have arrived later.
Gill's yard is well secured with
barbed-wire reinforcement on top of the
concrete fence.
The front gate is several feet tall
and according to relatives, no one can
enter it unless someone inside opens it.
It is not clear what transpired,
relatives admitted, but around 8 am
yesterday when the maid reported for
duty, the front gate was shut but not
padlocked.
When she got to the house, the front
door was half-open. Relatives said there
was no evidence of forced entry. The
businessman was also not robbed.
The maid, according to reports, went
into the house on the assumption that
Gill had opened the gate and door. She
had begun sweeping and tidying up the
house when she happened upon Gill's
mutilated corpse lying in a pool of
clotted blood in his bedroom.
Police said the state of his body and
the clotted blood indicated Gill had
been killed several hours before 8 am
yesterday.
Upon her discovery, the maid summoned
the police at the nearby Vreed-en-Hoop
Police Station. Ranks quickly responded
to the call and cordoned off the scene.
Relatives said while they were
unclear as to who committed the crime,
they suspected that it was someone Gill
knew well. "He didn't have any
trouble with anyone. You ask anyone
around this place and they will tell you
that he was a friendly and loving
boy," Gill's sister Dianne
remarked.
Police sources said it was unclear
how many persons carried out the attack,
although evidence so far was pointing to
one. Gill is survived by his parents and
sister.
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Channa
bombs thrown at school
Friday, July 8th 2005
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Two incendiary devices (channa
bombs) were thrown into a
private school building on the
East Bank Demerara early
yesterday.
Police reports say that
around 2.50 am (02:50 hrs) the
homemade explosives were thrown
into the building which houses
Camille's Institute at Track X
Soesdyke.
According to the proprietor
of the school Camille
Deokie,
persons saw a
teenager running from the scene,
went to investigate and saw fire
in the building. A watchman on
duty had heard the explosion.
The perpetrator threw one of
the cocktails through the
building's louvres into the
office and another into the
auditorium. Deokie said the
person seemed to be aiming at
wooden areas of the school that
house lots of paper.
She was however grateful that
persons in the immediate
surroundings were able to
extinguish the fire before it
could have done much damage.
Documents, books, office
equipment, and students' medals
were some of the things
destroyed in the blaze.
The woman said the police
responded quickly.
Repairs began immediately and
Deokie said that by today the
school should be in good enough
condition for students to
proceed with their final exams.
She said the exams were set for
yesterday but as a result of the
incident school was called off
for the day.
Camille's Institute for
Business and Science Studies has
been in existence for ten years
starting out on the bottom flat
of her father's house. She said
she moved into the current
building three years ago. The
school houses 350 students from
pre-school to CXC.
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