Georgetown: What started out as a planned robbery to invest in a vehicle ended in bloodshed, Lenrick Mosai Byass, 18, reportedly told police investigators after he was arrested on Friday afternoon.
Byass was arrested in Robb Street, Georgetown with cash belonging to Dr. Colin Roach, who was killed at his Duke Street, Kingston, Georgetown office on Tuesday.
Byass, who explained to detective what occurred on the night Dr. Roach was killed also implicated 19-year-old, Hilton Oliver Junior Franklin, who had confessed to the crime after being arrested at the “back track” route in Berbice on Friday morning.
He was attempting to flee to neighbouring Suriname.
When police arrested Franklin, they found the doctor’s two rings tucked in his crotch, along with US$200. He later admitted to inflicting the fatal injury that killed Dr. Roach at his office during a drinking session.
Franklin, who works as a taxi driver, had planned to rob Dr. Roach at his clinic to purchase a car after seeing the doctor handle large amount of cash at his Kingston, Georgetown office.
However, he reportedly told investigators that he was the person who inflicted the fatal injuries with a metal object that resulted in the damage to Dr. Roach’s face and skull after being confronted inappropriately in his office Tuesday night.
He allegedly hit the doctor to the face and head multiple times.
Franklin told police that when he visited the doctor, Byass was already there having a few drinks along with the doctor’s assistants. Everyone eventually became intoxicated.
After hitting the doctor and realising that he was dead, the three persons in his office tried to clean up any trace of their presence before leaving.
Police later learned that the two teenagers hatched the robbery together and Byass was picked up by Franklin from his home on Tuesday afternoon in a black Toyota Fielder Wagon.
They then drove to a location on Water Street, Georgetown, where they parked and agreed that Byass would be the first to visit the doctor’s office since he was also known to the doctor and then Franklin would follow and show up, to make it seem coincidental.
It was also revealed that Dr. Roach had carried the duo in his vehicle to purchase some beers and they began drinking on their return to his office, where it continued.
However, Byass reportedly told police that he left the doctor’s office to purchase some more beers and upon his return he saw the doctor lying motionless in blood.
He then questioned Franklin what had happened and was told a story. Byass later related that Franklin then removed two of the doctor’s gold rings from his fingers and US$600 that was in his pocket, which was later divided.
Franklin, he told police then unplugged the camera equipment in the office and took the doctor’s cellphones, along with some other valuables from Dr. Roach’s office. They then took his Audi Q5 Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) with registration PXX 4000. Police on Thursday recovered the vehicle abandoned at Schoonord, West Bank Demerara.
They allegedly discarded the camera equipment, cell phones and the metal object used to kill the doctor before they abandoned the SUV.
The 49-year-old physician was one of two doctors authorised to conduct medical examinations in Guyana for US immigrant visas.
Franklin was reportedly identified as the prime suspect after CCTV video recordings from nearby buildings showed that he left the doctor’s office on Tuesday night.
An autopsy done on Friday on Dr. Roach’s body found that he died from multiple blunt trauma to the head.
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