A 28-year-old construction worker was fatally stabbed on Saturday night following a heated altercation during a drinking session at First Street, Ivan Road, Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara.
Dead is Curtis Bengochea of Eight Street, Ivan Road, Soesdyke. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Diamond Regional Hospital after sustaining a stab wound to his left rib area during the incident.
Police in Regional Division #4 ‘B’ (East Bank Demerara) confirmed that preliminary investigations indicate Bengochea and the suspect, who are known to each other, were among a group of persons imbibing when an argument erupted.
The disagreement, which started at about 22:30h, subsequently escalated from a dispute over money.
According to information gathered, during the confrontation, the suspect allegedly armed himself with a knife and attacked Bengochea. The situation quickly escalated, with both men ending up in a nearby drain where the confrontation continued.
Persons at the scene reportedly intervened and separated the two men. However, shortly after, Bengochea was pulled from the drain with a visible stab wound to his side.
The suspect reportedly fled the scene on foot immediately after the incident and remains at large as police continue their search. The injured man was rushed to the Diamond Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced him dead on arrival.
His body was later taken to the Memorial Gardens Funeral Home, where it awaits a post-mortem examination.
Dispute over $1,000
Meanwhile, in an interview with Guyana Times on Sunday, the victim’s sister, Carolyn Benjamin, said the confrontation stemmed from a dispute involving $1,000 while the group was drinking.
She explained, “For $1,000, they had a confrontation for $1,000. They were drinking together, and they were buying, my brother was buying for everybody, so the suspect gave him $1,000, and he [the suspect] asked him back for the $1,000…”
Benjamin said the situation escalated after her brother refused to return the money.
“He turned and told the suspect that, I am buying all night, and I ain’t asking nobody for nothing. If you want $1,000, you could come and take it,” she related.
She further alleged that the suspect then pulled a knife and attacked Bengochea. “The suspect had a knife, and that’s when he brushed my brother two times in the face with it,” she said.
Benjamin added that Bengochea retaliated with a bottle he was holding. “My brother now had a Guinness bottle in his hand, and that’s when the suspect was in him,” she explained.
She stated that the confrontation continued as both men fell into a nearby trench during the struggle.
“They fall in, they probably had a scuffle, they fight and stuff, and the suspect fall in the trench… I don’t know if it was accidental, but that is what the friend told us and told the police,” she said.
Benjamin added that after they were pulled from the drain, her brother was found with a stab wound.
“When they pulled my brother out from the drain, he was stabbed… he just made one sound, and he was gone. He died…,” she said.
The grieving sister also confirmed that Bengochea was unmarried and had no children. She said the man who is also from Mabaruma, Region One (Barima- Waini), had moved to Georgetown to live with his aunt after his mother died.
Carolyn Benjamin said she hopes that the suspect is found so that he can face the brunt of the law for killing her brother.
“We heard the man is of unsound mind, that he sits and talks to himself, but we do not know. All we were told by my brother’s friend is that after stabbing my brother her ran away,” the woman said.
Police said the suspect remains on the run as investigations continue into the fatal stabbing.
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