Police are probing the death of a La Grange, West Bank Demerara granny who was found lifeless yesterday afternoon in her ransacked home and with her mouth tied.
The dead woman has been identified as 85-year-old Bibi Nasmonisha Ramjit known as “Aunty Bibi” a shop owner of Old Road, La Grange.
Stabroek News was told that the body of the woman was discovered at around 4 pm yesterday after a child visited the shop and got no response. Upon returning home and relating to his mother that he had gotten no response despite the doors of the house being open, the mother and other neighbours went to the house and enquired. It was during their checks, they discovered the woman tied up in her room and the home ransacked.
It is suspected that the woman was attacked by person/s who went to the house to commit a robbery since it is not the first time she had been robbed.
When this newspaper visited the scene last night, many were shocked to know the incident occurred during the day when most persons were up and about.
A relative who asked not to be named told this newspaper that she received a phone call informing that they should immediately go to the woman’s home.
“I got a phone call for us to go there because a lot of people were in front of her yard. They heard that she was murdered, the person told me on the phone,” the relative explained. She stated that when they arrived at the scene they were unable to enter the yard as police had already cordoned off the area and begun investigations.
Relating what was told to her by neighbours who made the discovery, the woman said that the entire house was ransacked and they found Ramjit tied up. A piece of cloth was tied over her mouth.
According to the relative, this is the third occasion for the year the woman’s home was attacked.
In the first instance which occurred during the early part of the year, persons entered the house and stole money after ransacking her bedroom.
The relative related that her nephew after being informed of the robbery changed her locks and furnished her with a new set of keys.
Sometime between June and July her home was attacked again. The thieves entered the home when she was taking her afternoon nap. They also ransacked the house in search of cash and stole her money.
Stabroek News was told that the elderly woman was advised to stop operating the shop by her children who reside overseas and she agreed to do so after all her goods were sold.
This newspaper understands that the elderly woman did not report the previous robberies as she had explained that she was not aware of any suspects.
It is still a mystery as to what occurred yesterday afternoon, the relative explained.
The bedrooms were ransacked.
Meanwhile, a neighbour related that the woman was seen alive at approximately 2.30pm yesterday.
“She was around we saw her but when I come out yesterday afternoon I saw the doors open and the little boy went there calling calling but she didn’t answer and he left. I went inside and come back out and the doors still open and I saying this is strange because she is always around or she would come and gaff but I didn’t see her,” the neighbour recounted.
The neighbour explained that it was after the child who had visited the shop returned with his mother and they enquired about the woman’s whereabouts that they made the shocking discovery and summoned the police.
“She was always a nice woman and she operates a small shop there. But it is not the first time they come and thief from aunty Bibi they did it two times in this year already,” the distraught neighbour said.
In recent years a number of elderly women operating shops or living alone have been found murdered.
