Police are investigating a report of a suspected Suicide committed by Hector Calvin Hartwell, a 40-year-old businessman of Lot 13 Windsor Estates, Providence, East Bank Demerara.
Hartwell is suspected to have committed suicide (shot himself) sometime between Monday (14th August 2023) and today (Friday, 18 August) at the address mentioned above.
Investigations revealed that Hartwell lived alone in a two-storey concrete structure measuring 30 feet in length and 30 feet in width in a partially fenced yard in Windsor Estates. The house has three bedrooms, three washrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a spiritual room.
Hartwell’s body was seen in a sitting position on a mattress in a pool of blood, with a suspected gunshot wound to the right side temple. A .32 Taurus pistol was on the bed next to the deceased, along with one suspected .32 spent shell. A 12-gauge shotgun was also seen about seven feet from the body.
Hartwell’s 35-year-old ‘child mother’ Allana Donally, of Eccles, East Bank Demerara, would usually visit from time to time. She left last month (July) to go on vacation to the United States of America.
Allana Donally claimed that she spoke to Hartwell on Monday evening via telephone. She said that he told her he was fed up with life and would kill himself. Since that call, Donally said she tried contacting Hartwell, but all proved futile.
She went on to say that yesterday (Thursday), she sent her 26-year-old cousin, a Nurse, to check at the house for Hartwell. Hartwell’s vehicle was parked in front of his house, and the inside lights were on. Donally said her cousin made several shouts and even knocked on the door, but she got no response.
Around 08:00 hrs today (Friday), Donally came into the country and ventured to Windsor Estates, straight to Hartwell’s house, where she used her personal key and opened the front door.
The woman said she noticed a chair blocking the door from the inside. She removed the chair and got access to the house, but she did not see Hartwell in the lower flat. She then went upstairs and observed the front bedroom on the northwestern side locked.
She managed to get the door open by force and saw Hector Hartwell’s body lying in a pool of blood. The house was not ransacked, and there was no forced entry. She then reached out to Rudolph Banwarrie, the Chief Security Officer at Windsor Estates, who called the Police.
The body was escorted to the Diamond Diagnostic Center. It is at the Memorial Gardens Funeral Home awaiting a post-mortem examination.
