The body that was found with stab wounds at Harlem, West Coast Demerara, has been identified as a 22-year-old Essequibo resident who was staying with relatives at Cummings Lodge New Scheme, East Coast Demerara while she attended the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).
Relatives of Luciana Bhagwandin, also known as Lucy, formerly of Pomona Village, Essequibo Coast, identified her at the West Demerara Regional Hospital morgue, yesterday according to a police release.
The woman’s body was discovered on a dam aback the West Coast Demerara village, near a rice field on Sunday morning.
According to a relative of the woman she had left the Cummings Lodge home for a supermarket in the area at around 5 pm on Saturday afternoon and that was the last time she was seen.
When she did not return home relatives went in search of her and were told by residents that she had entered a car about a street away from where she was staying. The relative did not know the colour of the vehicle the woman had entered.
A report was made to the Turkeyen Police Outpost but it was yesterday that the young woman’s parents recognised her in the Kaieteur News when the newspaper published the face of the woman found at Harlem.
The relative said that the woman had only been staying at her for a week before her disappearance and she was a quiet person.
“She would only go to classes and come home and she come just after school over and would only pick her book, she ent even watch television,” the relative said.
She said the young woman asked to go to the supermarket on Saturday to purchase an item and she thought nothing of it.
She said prior to staying with her the woman had stayed at another location in the Turkeyen area but there was some issue there and she moved in with her and they never had a problem.
The relative also disclosed that the woman, the first born for her parents and the only girl, was married but she recently separated from her husband following problems. She reportedly told her husband that the marriage was over and she wanted to continue her studies.
The relative said the woman had never taught before but she had done very well at secondary school and last September decided to continue her studies.
“I really can’t give you detail about anything, all I know she been staying by me and I never had a problem. She was a very beautiful girl and very bright,” the relative said.
Meanwhile, the taxi driver who was arrested on Sunday morning in connection with the murder remains in custody after he had reported that his car had been hijacked and it was subsequently found abandoned not far from the area where the woman’s body was discovered.
Harlem residents had told Stabroek News on Sunday that there was an incident involving the taxi driver which occurred that morning and might be related to the discovery.
They said the taxi driver had informed his relatives that he was robbed and his vehicle was hijacked in the early hours of Sunday morning and he arrived home intoxicated with his clothes muddied. His car was found abandoned at Canal Number Two after residents there observed the vehicle and contacted the taxi service base.
The taxi driver was among several other persons from Harlem taken into police custody for questioning in connection with the discovery of the woman’s body.
Stabroek News could not ascertain whether the other persons are still in custody.
