Woman remains key to solving murder of Grove quartet

The 2006 grisly murder of four persons including two children at Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD) still has relatives and investigators baffled but the whereabouts of a female suspect is key to solving this case.

The woman who police identified as Anita Lalla disappeared after the August 2 discoveries of the decomposing remains of 66-year-old Fred Looknauth along with those of 43-year-old Indira Kayman and her two children, seven-year-old Alicia Kirkpatrick and three-year-old Melville Inniss jnr. An arrest warrant was issued for Lalla in January 2007 but no clues of her whereabouts have surfaced since. Limited information on the woman was released to the media.

Alicia Kirkpatrick and  Melville Inniss
Alicia Kirkpatrick and Melville Inniss

Relatives of the quartet were left emotionally torn after the tragedy and were questioning what the woman would have gained from killing them. They are slowly coming to the realization that this case may never be solved.
Recently giving an update on investigations, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said that the police were looking for a man and a woman. The man, Troy Benn known as Troy Felix and Dutchman was held several months after the murders and while he did not confess to them, was subsequently charged with killing an unidentified woman at New Amsterdam, Berbice. Initially it was believed that that woman was Lalla but investigations revealed otherwise.
Persaud pointed out to Stabroek News that Benn was the man they were looking for but “he give a story” and unless the woman is found, the investigations will be at a standstill.
Asked about her possible whereabouts, the crime chief stated that the police have no idea where the woman might be.

Lalla was apparently involved in a relationship with both Benn and Looknauth who was the caretaker of the house where the killings took place. The woman was a frequent visitor to the premises and from reports, she and Benn were the last persons to be seen in the yard.

On the morning of August 2, residents in the area were overwhelmed by a stench coming from the house where the four lived. When checks were made, Inniss and Kirkpatrick, who was nude, were found sprawled on the lower flat of the two-storey house.

Upstairs their mother’s naked body lay in the bathroom with a sheet covering her face. Looknauth was found several metres away, lying in a passage leading to the bathroom, with his shirt covering his face.

Indira Kayman
Indira Kayman

The corpses were already decomposing so marks of violence were hard to detect. Post-mortem examinations done several days later revealed that they died as a result of brain haemorrhages, strangulation and suffocation.
There is no clear indication when the murders occurred but July 29 was the last time anyone from the house was seen. The gruesome discoveries were made four days later. Residents in close proximity did not recall seeing or hearing anything suspicious.

Justice
According to Looknauth’s granddaughter, Loretta Lackram who lives at another location in Grove, the family needs justice and she called on the police to reopen the investigation.
“Police were not really interested in this matter… They should question him (Benn) again because he was one of two persons last seen in the yard”, she said before questioning how young children could be killed under such circumstances without everything possible being done to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Looknauth’s relatives said that the killing of the children was particularly devastating.
Looknauth’s son returned to Guyana last year and contacted the police about the investigation but the ranks were not able to provide him with any substantive information.

Fred Looknauth
Fred Looknauth

Lackram described the relationship between her grandfather and the female suspect as a friendship explaining that the woman helped Looknauth with chores and would even follow him to collect his pension at the Post Office every month.
Another relative said that he was horrified when he went to the scene and saw what had been done to Looknauth and the others.

“All four of them were decaying… it was a horrible crime scene”, the man told this newspaper adding that the little girl was found behind a door while the little boy was found under the stairway.
This newspaper was informed that it was Lalla’s mother, Chandrawattie Lalla who was found murdered in her home at Grove, Squatting Area in November 2007.

Her reputed husband Mark Samuels who was reportedly found sleeping next to the decaying corpse was later charged with the killing and after a preliminary inquiry was committed to stand trial in the High Court. Last month Justice James Bovell-Drakes sentenced him to hang after a jury found him guilty of the crime.

Looknauth’s relatives told this newspaper that at one time the woman said that she had received a message that her daughter had been killed in Berbice but she was unable to attend the funeral. Shortly after that they received a report that the woman was in Suriname. They said that they were baffled as to where this woman is and were convinced that she had not acted alone.

Meanwhile the relatives of Kayman shared this same view and according to her younger sister Surojanie Kayman, “God is our judge”.

Painful reminders

During a tearful interview with this newspaper, Surojanie recalled that one week before she was discovered dead, Kayman had brought a Christmas tree which was subsequently planted at the front of the yard.
For her this is a painful reminder that her sister is no more and she ensures that she nourishes and treats it with the love that she had for her.

According to Surojanie, the Christmas season is the hardest for the family because during this time, Kayman was always around making pepper pot, cleaning and helping her mother to paint.

“Everytime I make pepper pot I think of her… Her death has left a big gap especially at this time of the year”, the woman said amidst tears before stressing that these are things she did not like to talk about.

She recalled that the Sunday before the discoveries were made, Kayman was to go to her home located in Diamond but did not turn up. Their mother, later went to the house at Grove were Kayman and her children lived and a woman –  believed to be Anita -informed her that she had gone out.

Surojanie said that her mother saw the 3-year-old boy on the veranda crying but she did not make any fuss about that and later left. The woman told this newspaper it was painful for her to recall this because many times she believes that the child was trying to alert his grandmother to what was happening.

“I think she was already dead though. Maybe he was trying to alert her”, she said as she struggled to hold back tears.
Kayman worked as a conductress on a mini bus driven by the father of the little boy and would occasionally do domestic work. The woman had apparently told her relatives that she was renting a room at the Grove house since it was more convenient to her. Surojanie explained that her sister lived in Diamond New Scheme and felt that living on the public road was more convenient since she could see her children every time she passed the house. When she was not there, Lalla looked after them.

Clueless

Surojanie said that she is still clueless as to why the murders were committed but opined that her sister may have known something and was killed as a result.

At the time of her death, Kayman was planning to migrate to Mexico with the children where she had secured a job but after the gruesome discoveries the woman’s documents inclusive of a work permit went missing. Her sister said that the woman had brought new pieces of clothing and these too were missing.

Kayman had even told her sister that a man Lalla was involved with used to visit the home in the wee hours and sometimes when she opened her eyes she would see the shadow of someone standing over her.
A distraught Surojanie told this newspaper that there was a report that quarrelling was coming from the house late one night but it was not investigated.

She said that the police should have acted swiftly to catch Lalla since she was a poor woman and did not have a lot of resources at her disposal to avoid capture.
“In order to fight this matter we need money but we don’t have… but I believe that one day God will deal with this. I am leaving this matter in his hands”, she added
Kayman left behind three sons and a daughter. The daughter lives with Surojanie while the sons live on their own. One of them lost an arm during an industrial accident but still manages to do farming to sustain himself.

January 2005
The law enforcement officials are seeking the public’s assistance to locate Anita Lall who is wanted for questioning in relation to the murders of Indira Kayman, Nikita Kirkpatrick, Melville Kayman and Looknauth at Grove, East Bank Demerara.