Relatives of Achama Madramootoo of Maida Village, Corentyne who was raped and murdered on September 14, 2003 say their grief is “fresh” again after learning that the accused in the case walked free last Wednesday in the Appeal Court.
Achama’s sister, Verma Madramuthu, 46, of Albion, Corentyne burst into tears when this newspaper confirmed the news to her that the men: Marvin, Patrick and Allan Ramnauth had won their case before the Guyana Court of Appeal.
Another man, Tulsie Seelall called ‘Johnny’ was also charged along with the men but had earlier been cleared.
She lamented that the memories of the gruesome murder have also “come back fresh to me” as though it happened yesterday.
She said she was even more hurt because she was the first person to spot her sister’s body in the canal and the one who identified her to the police.
When Stabroek News caught up with her at the Port Mourant market on Saturday where she vends shrimp, she said she was “not pleased that they got off because the judge found them guilty [at the High Court in NA] and they were convicted.”
Verma said the “first trial was fair because I was at court when they were found guilty and sentenced and when they gave three different story about what happened.”
She said “We just want justice. We were satisfied that they were behind bar”.
She was also dissatisfied that the court had not informed her family about the hearing for the appeal. “She had a family and they were supposed to inform us but they tried the case behind our backs.”
She said when her 74-year-old mother found out about it through the media, she went to the High Court in New Amsterdam and a clerk told her that they would inform her about the next date. But they never did.
Verma said too that her sister, 32, at the time, died and left two daughters, now 17 and 18-years-old and that although nine years have passed they are still
grieving for their mother.
The men’s lawyer, Mursaline Bacchus had filed the appeal several years ago. On Wednesday last three judges: Chief Justice Ian Chang, Justice James Bovell-Drakes and Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the men had committed the murder.
Verma recalled that Achama’s husband known as ‘Jack’ who was held and later released, had told police that four men went to their home and called out to them.
They did not open the door and the men broke the wall then the door to gain access to the house. Jack, who died under suspicious
circumstances two years later while the case was in progress, had said that the men sprayed “something in his face and he got knocked out.”
Early the following morning when Jack awoke he raised an alarm after he did not see his wife and residents came out to help him look for her.
Another sister, Algama ‘Rozo’ Madramootoo, 35, who was also at the market lamented, “How can four persons go and take her out from her home, rape her and kill her” and nobody is jailed.
She said too that her sister “did not deserve to die like that… We come from a poor family but we would not let her down. We would try we best to pick up back the story.”
Achama’s daughter, 18-year-old Indranie Hassan, who has been in the care of another sister, Tangamah, told Stabroek News that she “did not want to say anything because it would bring back too much painful memory.”
Meanwhile, Verma recalled that around 6 am on the Sunday that Achama died she was sleeping when heard a car blowing its horn in front of her house.
It was a resident of Maida who had come to inform her that thieves had broken into her sister’s house and taken her away and that she was still missing.
She informed her mother and siblings and they went with the driver.
When they were almost at the house they noticed a crowd on the road and a group of persons coming from the waterside where they had gone to search.
They joined the group which was heading to the backdam to continue the search. The woman said she kept shouting her sister’s name but got no response.
She recalled that on top of a tomb in the cemetery, close to the Kildonan dam, she recognized her sister’s nightgown that she had given to her.
She then ran out on the dam and looked in the water and saw her sister’s semi-nude body face down. The police arrived and turned the body over and she confirmed that it was her sister’s. In a caution statement, one of the accused had said that they were drinking when ‘Johnny’ pointed a gun at them and told them to go to the woman’s home and call her out.
They complied but the woman did not open the door. Johnny then instructed them to break the wall which they all did. He said that by then the woman had opened the door and they dragged her downstairs and took her towards the backdam.
