Around noon on Wednesday, more than 24 hours before Usawatie Persaud’s body was discovered at Eping Avenue along with dead Cuban doctor Guillermo Martinez, she told her mother she was visiting a friend.
When Persaud did not return home by Wednesday evening, her son, Steve, and a family friend journeyed to Georgetown in search of the woman. By Thursday morning, Steve told Stabroek News yesterday, his search led to Dr Guillermo Martinez’s apartment at Eping Avenue, Bel Air.
In a release issued late Thursday night, several hours after the bodies were discovered, police said that Persaud’s body bore stab wounds to the throat, chest and abdomen.
Two knives were recovered from the scene, including one that was blood-stained. Stabroek News had also been told by a police source that the woman’s throat had been slit and it is suspected that Martinez ingested a poisonous substance. Post-mortem examinations are scheduled to be conducted on Monday.
Persaud lived at Main Street, New Amsterdam with her common-law husband and son.
This newspaper understands that the woman left her home Wednesday morning for the city. She encountered her mother, Lynette Persaud, while in Georgetown but the two went their separate ways.
Lynette Persaud reportedly called her daughter around noon that day to ask whether she had concluded her business and was ready to travel home.
However, Persaud told her mother that she was visiting a friend. Her mother decided to see to additional errands in an attempt to give her daughter time to visit her friend. When Lynette Persaud called her daughter several hours later, around 4pm, she got no answer.
When Stabroek News visited Persaud’s New Amsterdam home yesterday relatives said that her son and “husband” were in Georgetown. They refused to comment.
Later, when Stabroek News spoke with Steve, he said his mother would normally use Martinez’s services. He, like his grandmother, had last seen Persaud on Wednesday. In his case, he saw his mother Wednesday morning before she left for Georgetown.
During their search, Steve reported that he and the family friend visited various locations, including several hospitals.
They eventually made their way to the doctor’s apartment from which he conducted a private practice. Steve said they only looked to see if the door was open and upon discovering that it wasn’t they left. Steven declined to comment further.
Martinez, fellow Cuban doctor and friend Dr Rahul said, had been in Guyana for about seven years and was a physiotherapist who conducted a private practice from his apartment.
The dead doctor was last seen on Tuesday.
When a foul scent started emanating from the ground floor apartment Thursday afternoon the building’s caretaker was forced to break in and subsequently discovered the bodies on Martinez’s bed. Police were immediately informed and arrived shortly after to secure the scene.
Meanwhile, Government Pathologist Nehaul Singh had told reporters at the scene on Thursday that Persaud and Martinez had been dead for approximately two days.
