Raulston D'Avilar, a 20-year-old man who was found dead in a cane field in Vigilance last December, is said to have been the sixth member of a gang which was involved in a series of carjackings in and around Georgetown.

In a press release yesterday, the police noted the five other men appeared in court on Thursday on four counts each of robbery under arms. One of the five, Anthony Clenkian, 20, of Madewini, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years jail on each of two counts. The other men, Shameer Shaheed, 26, of Nandy Park, Raymond Salvadore, 21, of Garden of Eden and Rafael Dapphus, 20, and Patrick Armstrong, 27, of Friendship, East Bank Demerara, pleaded not guilty and were remanded to prison.

The police release said that the sixth person from all indications, as investigations revealed, was D'Avilar whose body was found on Vigilance Sideline Dam in the vicinity of the cane field on December 12. The release added that the car that D'Avilar was seen driving prior to his demise was earlier found at about 9:30 am the same day on the Church of God Road, Buxton. According to the police, the car had appeared to be recently sprayed and had false number plates, PGG 4080. The police say the car was reportedly hijacked at Cemetery Road sometime before and its registration number was then PGG 7902.

D"Avilar's mother, who had spoken to this newspaper after her son's death had said he was not known to have had any problem with anyone. The woman was adamant that her son was a very quiet person and described his death as a tragedy.

Eyewitnesses said a group of men dragged D'Avilar into the cane field and beat him before discharging a few rounds. His body was discovered with chop wounds to the neck and bullet wounds to the body.