Cops arrest man with ‘Rambo knife’ and cutlasses in home of Rose Hall murder victims

By Michael Jordan

Police have detained a relative of Rose Hall murder victims Melissa and Anthony Arokium, and family members of the slain mother and son are suggesting that he may be able to assist investigators with solving the case.

Big Smith News Watch has learnt that the man, an ex-soldier who is said to be mentally unstable, was detained on Sunday, October 1, after he was found in the house in which mother and son were slain in late August.

Relatives said that the ex-soldier was in possession of three cutlasses and a ‘Rambo’ knife when he was held. Relatives had alerted the police after the man, while armed with a cutlass,  allegedly chased Melissa Arokium’s elder brother, Cerrano Arokium, who had confronted the ex-soldier about his presence there.

Close relatives of the victims say that the man has been laying claim to the property since the murder.

Big Smith News Watch was told that after the bodies were found, the individual was immediately thought of as a suspect by some relatives, owing to the brutality and apparent absence of a clear motive.

They claim that the relative has been ‘saying things’ which indicate that he may be able to provide the police with information about the case.

Among the things the man allegedly said is that he and ‘Anthony’ had a fight and be beat ‘Anthony’ badly.

Relatives claim that they passed this information on to the police.

Big Smith News Watch understands that the relative was held briefly during the early stages of the investigation.

Cerrano Arokium, Melissa’s elder brother, alleged that the ex-soldier had visited his sister the day prior to the double-murder.

But some persons, who expressed skepticism about this individual being a suspect, pointed to the fact that the killer apparently had the presence of mind to conceal his weapon, wash or hide his bloody clothing and escape undetected.

PRIME SUSPECTS

Cerrano Arokium, who is a cane harvester at Albion estate, has been held and released repeatedly by Major Crimes Unit detectives who are trying to unravel the mystery behind the gruesome August 23 deaths of Melissa, 31, and her eight year old son at their Rose Hall, Berbice property.

Police have also questioned the victims’ neighbor, Deo Narris and Melissa’s boyfriend, Shailendra Umrao.

At present, though, the investigators seem to be focusing primarily on the 32-year-old Cerrano Arokium and Deo Narris, the neighbor. They have been ordered to visit the Albion Police Station daily.

Police are reportedly still awaiting DNA on items they confiscated during their investigations.

Those items reportedly include a cutlass and some of Cerrano Arokium’s clothing that he’d placed in a container of water, allegedly to wash later.

QUARRELLED OVER MISPLACED MONEY

The cane harvester says that investigators have focused on him because “people in the street” claimed that he killed his sister and nephew because of a quarrel over money. 

According to him, he had asked his sister about $8,000 that he misplaced, but later found.

He admitted that he and Melissa “had a lil talking” over the cash he had misplaced, but insisted that the quarrel did not escalate into threats or violence.

“We did get we lil talking but not to that extent (that would lead to violence).

“The lil boy (Anthony) is me nephew (and) me friend.

I could never do something like that, me mother ain grow we like duh.

“How I coud do something like duh? Me and meh sister quarrel together, we struggle together, we got love.”

“The police in town say before I go to work I do it (killed Melissa and Anthony)  and they say I do it after I come from work.”

ALIBI

The cane harvester, who occupied a section of the same building, said he woke around 3.30 a.m on the day his sister and nephew were slain, without seeing them.

He left the premises on a bicycle which he left at a security service, and, at around 5.00 a.m., he boarded a truck which took him and other cane harvesters to the Albion Estate.

He alleged that when he returned home at around 11.30 p.m, he saw his neighbor (Deo Narris, who is also being questioned). He alleged that Naris was standing “a short distance from his sister’s home.

“He (Narris) ask for me sister, (and) I say I now come from work.”

He said he saw his sister’s bicycle in the front yard and assumed she had taken Anthony to Georgetown to buy school items.

Cerrano Arokium said he went out and it was then that he received a call from a relative who told him his sister was dead. He later learnt that his nephew was also dead.