Bartica man found dead in Friendship hotel

Police are investigating the killing of a 40-year-old boat operator, Ryan Fredericks, whose body was found at a hotel on the East Bank of Demerara late on Thursday.

Police said Fredericks, of Mongrippa Hill, Bartica, checked into the Safari Inn Hotel at Friendship with a woman whose identity is not yet known. The pair rented a room, while another boat operator, Navindra Kanhai, who had travelled with them from Bartica to Parika, stayed in a separate room.

According to police, Kanhai told investigators that Fredericks knocked on his door between 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m., bleeding from a chop wound to his left arm, and reported that he had been robbed and attacked. Emergency services later pronounced him dead at the scene around 12:55 a.m.

Police said the female companion and the car she had arrived in could not be found after the incident. Crime scene investigators reported a deep wound to Fredericks’ upper left arm. His body was taken to a funeral home for a post-mortem examination.

Kanhai has been taken into custody to assist with the investigation, police said.