Two men, including a businessman, have gone on trial in Guyana for their alleged involvement in the deadly pirate attack off the coast of Suriname in 2018 that left at least five people dead and several others missing. Both men have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Pirates burned Guyanese fishermen with hot oil, attacked them with machetes and forced them overboard tied to anchors in a fatal attack in the Atlantic Ocean off the neighboring South American nation of Suriname, according to survivors.
Businessman Nakool Manohar and Premnauth Persaud, appeared before Justice Navindra Singh at the Berbice High Court on Monday and denied that between April and June 2018, while in Guyana’s territorial waters, they murdered Mahesh Sarjoo and Tilaknauth Mohabir on board the vessel Romina SK 764 during a piracy attack.
The prosecution is also alleging that the two men during the same period, murdered Bandara called “Spanish man”, Laita Sumair called “Bora”, and Lokesh DeCouite, on board the vessel Joshua SK 1418 while committing the offence of piracy.
Local and Surinamese authorities had said that the attack could have been one of revenge after Manohar’s brother, Somnauth Manohar, was gunned down in Suriname.
The assault in late April 2018 on the four fishing boats 30 miles (48 km) from the coast was described by Guyana’s President David Granger as a “massacre” and a major setback to curbing piracy long rife in the waters off both nations.
Of the twenty fishermen attacked, 12 are still missing, five survived and three bodies have been found.
CMC/
