Cops arrest suspect in murder of Oropouche gardener

The murder of South Oropouche gardener Adio Juilen is said to be linked to the disappearance of $150,000 worth of marijuana. Julien’s body was found in a pond near his Berridge, South Oropouche, home last Thursday. A 37-year-old South Oropouche man was held at his Ralph Narine Trace home on Friday in connection with Julien’s murder. He remains in custody at the Gasparillo Police Station.

Julien, 30, was shot in the knee and his throat slit before his lifeless body was dragged and dumped in the pond which he would have used in the past to water his crops. Police believe Julien was killed after the disappearance of marijuana from the area two weeks ago. The suspect in the murder was arrested around 1 pm on Friday by Homicide investigators Sgts Anderson Pariman and Peter Ramdeen.

Julien was killed mere metres from his home. Last Tuesday, the day before Julien’s murder, his mother Debra Jeffrey said a man she knew came to her home and threatened to kill her son. The mother of six said he showed her two bullets which he said were for her son. She said she dismissed the threat because the two men went to school together and she believed they would have sorted out their differences.

However, on Wednesday night, Julien came home around 8 pm, dropped off a bag of groceries and walked down the street, near a track he would use to get to a nearby village. Jeffrey said she watched her son walk out of sight, and minutes later, she heard an explosion. She ran out to see a trail of blood but her son was missing. Police combed the area and followed the trail of blood to the bushy area around the pond.