The father of six-year-old Orlando Jaikarran was charged with his murder and remanded to prison on Friday, three days after the child’s remains were recovered from the Waterloo Main Canal, West Coast Berbice.
Bharrat Jaikarran, called “Viji” or “Crank,” a 45-year-old cane harvester of Plantation Hope, appeared before Magistrate Shareefah Parks at the Weldaad Magistrate’s Court.
The charge alleges that he murdered Orlando on October 15, 2026, at Waterloo Main Canal, Bath, West Coast Berbice.
Jaikarran was not required to plead to the indictable charge. The matter was transferred to the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court and adjourned to November 12.
Jaikarran was arrested on October 20. During Friday’s hearing, Police Prosecutor Garfield Edwards told the court that the case file had been completed and legal advice obtained. Investigations into another suspect’s possible involvement were continuing.
Orlando’s disappearance had prompted searches in Bath Settlement and surrounding areas before police and civilians recovered his partially decomposed body from the canal on Tuesday.
Police previously disclosed that the head and portions of the left hand and right foot were missing. The remains were taken to the Bath Regional Hospital and subsequently transferred to Bailey’s Funeral Home.
A post-mortem examination conducted on Wednesday was inconclusive. Region Five Commander, Senior Superintendent Lonsdale Whithrite, confirmed the findings and said police were continuing efforts to locate the missing remains.
Investigators also seized six cutlasses and other items during a search of a residence at Bath Settlement on Tuesday. Further enquiries at Waterloo Main Canal yielded additional items described by police as having evidential value.
The items were lodged as exhibits. An earlier police statement said preliminary investigations suggested that Orlando had been taken to the canal and struck on the neck with a cutlass.
Orlando was a pupil of Bath Primary School, where teachers remembered him as quiet and a regular attendee. At the school’s athletics championship last month, he competed in four events and won three, including the boys’ under-eight 80-metre and 160-metre races.
