Former Guyanese soldier who killed colleague during Haitian peacekeeping mission commits suicide after rage

Last Updated on Sunday, 30 November 2014, 22:41 by GxMedia

A former Guyanese soldier, who had shot dead his colleague while they were on a peace-keeping mission in Haiti 16 years ago, committed suicide on Sunday by shooting himself in his mouth after discharging several rounds at a house where a man who offended him lives.

Forty-three year old Samuel La Fleur of Prospect, East Bank Demerara  killed himself by firing a gun in his mouth after injuring a woman who was sitting in the house.  Oneka Lyttle sustained a gunshot wound to her left arm, relatives and police confirmed.

The firearm was allegedly in possession of his cousin who is a police corporal at a police station on the East Bank Demerara.

Before committing suicide, La Fleur got into a rage as he searched for a man who had thrown down his bird cage. He then grabbed the gun that was in possession of his cousin and went into the yard to locate the man, who had offended him, because he was not at home.

After shooting at the house,  La Fleur, who was  a taxi driver up to the time of his death,  returned home and shot himself in his mouth.

The former Lance Corporal was the first Guyanese to have been convicted by a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) court martial for the capital offence of murder.  He shot dead Corporal Lindon Alleyne in January 1996 at a military camp at Les Cayes, Haiti where they had been part of a United Nations-organised peace keeping mission. That incident had stemmed from the disappearance of La Fleur’s identification card.

La Fleur was arrested and returned to Guyana where he faced the military court, was convicted and sentenced to 14 years.