– apparently strangled
The body of a 26-year-old woman was fished out of a trench at Silk Cotton Dam, Zeelugt, West Coast Demerara (WCD) at approximately 06:30 hrs yesterday with marks of violence around the neck and other areas.

Rajdai Persaud

Relatives said Rajdai Persaud of 14 Zeelugt WCD, who was mentally challenged, left her Lot14 Zeelugt home on Saturday afternoon to visit her mother who lives in the Zeelugt Squatting area a stone’s throw away, but her mother was not at home. She never returned to the aunt’s home where she lived.

When Stabroek News visited the home last evening, relatives expressed disbelief at “the brutal slaying” of their loved one. “She din have to die in dis cruel and brutal manner,” lamented her aunt Chabadie Azad.

The aunt, who said that she viewed the body, related to this newspaper that her niece had numerous marks of violence about the body including signs of strangulation.

She added also that though Persaud was found fully clothed, her underwear was pulled down to her knees raising suspicions of rape. “How we find she, we really think that somebody ketch she, beat she up real bad, rape she, strangle she, kill she and throw she in de trench,” Azad said.
According to Azad, the police also told the family that the woman’s death “seemed to have involved foul play”.
Azad and an older sister of the dead woman explained that she was not in the habit of sleeping out or going away from home without informing relatives. “Is advantage, dey advantage she,” Kowsilla Sukhdeo the woman’s older sister said.

After Persaud did not return home on Saturday and it was established that her mother was not at home when she visited, relatives started to worry. When Sunday came and went, they felt that something serious must have happened to her.

The grieving aunt said that their worst fears were confirmed yesterday when a family friend journeying to work to the cane fields spotted Persaud’s partly decomposed body floating atop the trench opposite a mandir.

Azad said that upon receiving the devastating news, they quickly made their way to the scene and though it was badly disfigured, they were still able to positively identify the body as that of Persaud. The aunt described it as “a sight to see”.

Relatives said Persaud could not swim and would not have gone to the trench or anywhere near the river for such a purpose.
As news of the woman’s demise circulated, neighbours began gathering at her residence.

Persaud was described by relatives as an “easy-going and fun-loving person who was very helpful”.
The woman has left to mourn two older siblings, her mother, other relatives and friends. Up to press time, no one had been taken into custody, while police said investigations are continuing.

The police said in a press release that they are awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination. (Femi Harris)