Cop who was prime suspect in lawyer’s murder dies

Aug 10, 2024 News

…Video evidence contradicts statement

Kaieteur News – The prime suspect in the murder of attorney Richard Layne died Friday night while receiving treatment at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

Dead: Police sergeant, Toney Sulker

Dead: Attorney-at-law Richard Layne

Police sergeant, Toney Sulker who was identified as the prime suspect had ingested a Poisonous substance.

Sulker had initially told investigators that he had found the lawyer dead in his car and bleeding from a wound to the neck around 22:13 hrs. on Wednesday.

The car, a Jaguar PYY 2850, was parked on the bridge in front of Layne’s 183 Century Palm Gardens, D’Urban Backlands home.

Sulker had claimed that he saw Layne slumped over the steering wheel of his car from the kitchen window after getting up from his bed to drink some water. He claimed too that after rushing out to see what was wrong he found the car doors locked and he could not get in and had to resort to calling Layne’s mother.

It was only when she arrived on the scene and instructed him to break the car window that an ambulance was summoned.

Police had detained Sulker for questioning but he had denied any involvement in Layne’s Killing. Police said that in a written statement Sulker stuck to his story that he went to bed after Layne and his cousin Michael Harding left the house.

However, Video evidence obtained by police showed that he was dishonest in his statements relative to the murder of Layne.

Meanwhile, Harding in his statement said that he had taken Layne to get some Starbucks Coffee at Movietowne in his (Harding) car before dropping him (Layne) back home.

He said he left Layne’s residence around 20:17 hrs. and claimed that the lawyer was safe in his home and the attorney’s car was parked in the garage.

Without any evidence to link Harding and Sulker to the crime, police released them on Thursday night.

However, there was a plot twist when police found video evidence contradicting Sulker’s story.

The evidence proved that Sulker might have been the last one to see Layne alive and not his cousin.

Police in a statement said that CCTV footage obtained from cameras on Sherriff Street showed that Layne and Sulker were at Kamboat Chinese Restaurant around 21:31 hrs. that night.

Sulker was seen entering the restaurant and exiting with a white plastic bag containing what looked like Chinese food. He entered the front passenger seat of Layne’s car and it took off.

The car was last seen on camera heading towards D’Urban Backlands around 21:39 hrs. Layne was reportedly found dead after 22:00 hrs.

Before police could arrest him for further questioning, ranks received a call from Layne’s mother that Sulker was rushed to the hospital.

The woman said that she was leaving Layne’s house when Sulker drove into the yard at a fast rate.

She reportedly turned back to see what was wrong and found him lying on the ground in the bottom flat of the house and vomiting a green substance. An ambulance was called and Sulker was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

Police ranks were sent to the house and inside Sulker’s car they found bottles of what was assumed to be a poisonous substance.

They also found the clothes that Sulker was seen wearing on camera but they were washed and already dried.

They took those with some other dirty clothes in a nearby basket and some DNA Samples from Sulker for forensic examination.

Sulker told police before his death that he met Layne four years ago and they became friends. Layne had asked him to move in and they have been living together since then. He denied being intimate with Layne.

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murder, Murdered Lawyer, police, Richard Layne, Toney Sulker

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