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Oct 06, 2013 News
Fear has gripped the Wauna community in the North West District following the execution style slaying of a Guyanese miner and his son by men believed to be Venezuelan military personnel. The killing occurred near the Guyana/Venezuelan border.
Orlando Fitzpatrick, 52, and his son, 17 year old Jesse, were shot dead on Thursday night while they were returning from their mining operation at a place called Tocopita on the Venezuelan side of the border.
Kaieteur News understands that although Munroe and his son were robbed of their earnings by the Spanish-speaking “soldiers”, their deaths bear all the marks of an execution.
It is reported that two other men who were with the father and son were spared.
According to Munroe’s mother, Gladys Seetahall, “He and his son were coming from the mines across the border with Venezuela. Two boys were bringing them across in a boat.”
She said that from the reports she received, when the Guyanese reached Guyana, they were stopped by a group of men wearing what appeared to be Venezuelan army uniforms.
“The Venezuelan soldiers were there and they shot the son first, then they shot the farther. They did nothing to the two other boys,” Seetahall explained.
She said that the incident had to occur around 20:30 on Thursday, since Fitzpatrick had reportedly telephoned his wife that night and told her that he would be at his mother’s by midnight.
The dead man’s wife, Marlyn Allick, who resides at Grove, East Bank Demerara, told Kaieteur News last night that the father and son left home for their mining ground in June.
However the father became sick and returned home for medical attention before rejoining his son in August.
She said that on Thursday, Fitzpatrick telephoned her from a place called Amakura and told her that they were on their way home.
“He said that everything was good and I must call him around midnight when he should reach Wauna by his mother.”
Allick said that the following day she tried to contact her husband but his telephone “rang out”.
“I called his mother and asked her if he reach and she said no. Later that day I hear they get shoot up,” Allick related. She said that although her husband was usually on time, she did not take the reports seriously.
A few hours later she was able to confirm that her husband and her son were dead.
This newspaper was informed that the dead men’s bodies were taken back to Tocopita in Venezuela where they were handed over to Fitzpatrick’s sister who lives there.
“They are now brining them (bodies) back across and we got to take transportation and go up the creek for them,” Gladys Seetahall said.
“Right now we have a big puzzle. Why four men in the boat and is only my husband and son get kill? Why they had to take them back to Venezuela?”
Sources in the Wauna Region told Kaieteur News that the killing of the two men could be in retaliation for the shooting of another man who has links with Venezuelan soldiers.
One source informed that Venezuelan soldiers would normally cross the border and harass Guyanese miners, taking away their gold.
The source said that about three months ago, Fitzpatrick and a man who was a “friend” of the Venezuelans had a bitter altercation.
“He and them Venezuelan was friends, and how this thing happen, it look like they was waiting fuh tek out Fitzpatrick,” the source said.
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