The main suspect in the murder of two gay men who were sex workers, died on Sunday morning at the Georgetown Hospital after confessing to the murders and setting himself ablaze, even as doctors battled to save his life.
The bodies of the two sex workers who have been identified as Jason John Samuels and Carl Sinclair, were found sprawled on Leopold Street and Lombard Street just after 12 midnight on Sunday morning.
The dead man who reportedly admitted to the murders has been identified as 31-year-old Samuel Bristol of Nabacalis, East Coast Demerara. Paramedics were called to the Regent Street area close to City Hall just before Sunrise on Sunday after receiving calls that a man had just set himself ablaze. When the ambulance rushed to the scene, the man was still alive but was badly burnt to over 80% of his body.
Medical sources said from all appearances, the man doused himself with gasoline then set himself ablaze. Reports are that while he was being rushed to the emergency room, he pleaded with nurses to allow him to die.
He was pronounced dead just before 8 o’ clock, as scores of sex workers gathered at the Georgetown Hospital. Some of them burst into the singing of hymns as the body was being taken to the morgue.
Among those who hurried across to the Hospital, was gay sex worker “Thin Slice” who was asked by Police to identify the body. “Thin Slice” told News Source that he shared a relationship with Bristol for over five years but the relationship became abusive and he decided to step away from it and begin prostitution.
“He was always threatening me and came out there last night threatening me and the other girls. He even came with gasolene to throw on one of the girls who was arguing with him and he threatened a set of us and when we began to chase him, he ran out to the Regent Street area and was rescued by a security vehicle that was driving by.”
According to “Thin Slice”, it was less than three hours later that the bloodied bodies of the two sex workers who were among the group that chased after the man, were found. Both bodies bore multiple stab wounds to the body and the other sex workers appear convinced that the man was responsible for both deaths since he threatened to kill the same two sex workers and others as he ran from the earlier scene of the confrontation.
At the Georgetown Hospital, some of the sex workers decried the level of violence being thrown at the gay community in Guyana and some of them sought to throw blame at the feet of those government officials who have been making “radical statements” about persons belonging to the gay community.
The double murder has sent shock waves throughout the country and appears to have reignited the debate in Guyana about gay rights in the country and how members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community are treated.
In the past year, there has been an upsurge of violent attacks on gay sex workers while they are on the night shift. Just over two months ago, a passing car opened gunfire on some of the sex workers. And there have also been cases of some of them being lured to dark corners where they would be attacked and beaten.
Meanwhile, the stabbing murder of the two sex workers has brought back memories of the stabbing death of another young man who belonged to the gay community. His body was also found in the Leopold Street area and the investigations into that incident and many other cases of violence against the LGBT community are ongoing.
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