British teen found in shallow grave

-God-brother arrested -friend, wanted

The search for missing British teen, Dominic Bernard, came to a grisly end at around 13.30 hrs yesterday, following the discovery of his decomposed body in a shallow grave at Nurney, Corentyne Berbice.

The victim was fully clothed and his body appeared to have been mutilated.

The body was left overnight under guard at the scene. A postmortem is to be conducted today.

Police sources said that Aaron Wilfred Hing, the victim’s god-brother and a prime suspect, was captured last night in a city hotel. He had booked into the hotel at around 17.00 hrs and was asking a staffer to borrow a cell phone when two police ranks, who had received information about his whereabouts, informed the staff that they were looking for a murder suspect.

A source said that Hing attempted to slip away from the scene but one of the policemen recognized him.

He was then arrested and was still being questioned at press time at CID Headquarters, Eve Leary. A second man is also in custody.

Police had issued a wanted bulletin for Hing, 23, who is a British citizen, and who had lived with Dominic Bernard’s family before coming to live in Guyana.

The bulletin had given Hing’s last known address as Lot 19, Kildonan Village, Corentyne.

A similar bulletin was also issued for Staymon George, who is also 23. His last known address was given as Lot 19 Charles Street, Charlestown and Kildonan Village, Corentyne.

Police sources said that Dominic Bernard’s corpse was found after detectives, responding to an anonymous call, conducted a four-hour search of a desolate and bushy area some five miles off the main road at Kildonan, Corentyne.

The ranks were reportedly tipped off some time on Thursday night that Dominic Bernard had been slain and his body buried in the area.

They reportedly began searching the bushy terrain from as early as 08.00 hrs yesterday.

There are reports that the ranks were about to give up the search when they received a second call.

This caused them to intensify the search and the shallow grave, with its gruesome remains, was eventually found.

Detectives from Georgetown, including ranks from the major Crimes Unit, joined detectives from Berbice in their investigation and remained at the scene up to late yesterday evening.

Indications are that the 18-year-old British citizen was murdered, by persons who knew him, shortly after he arrived in Guyana.

Dominic Bernard reportedly travelled to Guyana on October 14, last to meet his God-brother, Aaron Wilfred Hing.

He failed to make contact with family or friends.

The teenager was scheduled to fly back to England on November 5, 2015.

During a press conference held at Cara Lodge, the missing teen’s father, Andrew Bernard, said that his son left London to travel to Guyana on October 14, 2015 on Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) flight BW 903. He said that Dominic landed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Timehri at 21:50hrs and “has not been seen or heard from since.”

He went on to say that his son is six feet tall and of medium build.

According to Mr. Bernard, Dominic was last seen wearing blue jeans and white sweatshirt with a black jacket that has leather in the middle and fabric on the arms.

A photographer/film maker, the teen was also wearing a pair of white Nike sneakers and was carrying a suitcase along with one piece of hand luggage.

Andrew Bernard stated that this was his son’s maiden trip to Guyana. He was supposed to be picked from the airport by his God-brother, whom he was coming to spend time with.

Mr. Bernard stated that after his son failed to return home, he contacted his Godson who claimed that he had not seen the teen and did not even know he had travelled to Guyana.

Mr. Bernard said that it was unusual for his son not to make contact with his family.

He recalled that his son had travelled to Atlanta, Georgia, in the US earlier last year, and had made contact with his family as soon as he touched down there.

Dominic Bernard resided in England with his parents and according to his father, he was not encountering any problems back at home.

On Thursday, police, acting on reports that the missing teen had been spotted, searched locations in Berbice, Sophia and Timehri.

Several CID, Intelligence and uniformed police ranks from Georgetown and Berbice, searched a house in Kildonan, Corentyne.

According to reports, the house turned out to be the home of the missing teen’s best friend and god-brother, Aaron Hing.