A Bartica resident, Michael Caesar, also known as ‘Capone’, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for his role in the 2007 killing of two men during an armed robbery at a bar on Agriculture Road, Triumph, East Coast Demerara.
The incident, which occurred on December 16, 2007, saw Caesar and other armed men storming the bar, holding patrons at gunpoint, and robbing the owner and another individual. Before fleeing the scene, the assailants fatally shot Fazil Hakim, known as ‘Boyie’, and Rajesh Singh, known as ‘Rabbit’, who had been drinking at the bar with another man.
Caesar was charged jointly with Mark Royden Williams, also known as ‘Smallie’. While Williams faced trial for the murders, he was found not guilty by a jury in April 2021. Caesar, however, opted to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in 2020, resulting in his 13-year sentence.
In addition to this conviction, Caesar is serving a 60-year sentence for his involvement in the notorious Lusignan and Bartica massacres. The 2007 bar shooting remains a stark reminder of the violent crime wave that swept parts of Guyana during that period.