A Bushlot, West Coast Berbice woman was yesterday remanded to prison over the murder of her 85-year-old great aunt.
Roshanie Basdeo, also known as ‘Mala’, 35, of Lot 84 D Bushlot Village yesterday appeared at the Weldaad Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Peter Hugh where the charge of murder was read to her.
The charge says that on Monday, November 28, at Lot 131 Section B Bushlot Village, Basdeo murdered Sumintra Sawh.
The unrepresented woman was not required to plead to the indictable charge and was remanded to prison. She will return to court on December, 14, for report.
The body of Sawh, also known as “Aunty Betty”, of Lot 131 Section ‘B’ Bushlot Village was found on her bed with stab wounds – one on both sides of her temple, three on the forehead, and one to the back of the head on Monday morning – the day she would have celebrated her birthday.
A post-mortem examination revealed that she died as a result of asphyxia and aspiration of blood in the airway, shock and haemorrhage and a fractured skull and multiple stab wounds to the head and face.
According to the post-mortem examination, the woman sustained a total of seven stab wounds.
Sawh resided alone following the death of her husband a few years ago. However, her great niece, Basdeo, 35, who she regarded as her granddaughter, would spend the evenings with her.
Initially, Basdeo had claimed that the kitchen door located in the lower flat was left open and two men entered and carried out a robbery. She had claimed, one took her downstairs and tied her up while the second went upstairs where he killed Sawh and robbed her of $350,000 cash and personal documents.
However, after the police continued their investigation, Basdeo then confessed to planning the robbery with Mohammed Ramzan Shaheed, who resides directly behind Sawh and would carry out odd jobs for her.
The Guyana Police Force earlier this week issued a wanted bulletin for Shaheed.
The woman had told investigators that Shaheed visited the day prior and she (Basdeo) gave him $1,000.
She claimed that when he returned he informed her that he would rob the elderly woman and buy a scooter. Basdeo claimed that Shaheed told her that she would get the elderly woman’s house as a result of the robbery.
She had said on Monday morning he visited the woman’s house and asked her for the money while Sawh was sleeping. She reportedly told investigators that she showed him the bag in Sawh’s room which contained the money.
She said he proceeded to the room where he began assaulting Sawh and beating her with an object. She claimed that he then walked out of the room with Sawh’s bag and he scrambled her to her neck and cut her left hand after which he then threatened to kill her family if she was to talk and then left.
However, on Thursday evening Basdeo reportedly confessed to investigators that she killed Sawh after the elderly woman accused her of stealing her money and documents.
She claimed that she told Sawh that she did not take her money or remove anything from the house but Sawh continued to accuse her throughout the evening.
She said she became annoyed and took a hammer and a piece of wood which she used to deal several lashes to the elderly woman causing her to become motionless.
She then went to the lower flat where she then used a razor blade to inflict injuries on her neck and hand to make it seem as if they had been attacked.
Following that, she then placed her nightdress which had blood in a black plastic bag along with the hammer and razor blade and dumped the bag into the pit toilet in the yard.
The wood used in the crime was thrown on a nearby shed. A police source told Stabroek News that investigators have since recovered the wood and the bag with the items, and that Basdeo claimed that the she told the two previous stories to “defend herself.”
He said, the woman has now claimed that she alone was responsible for the murder of Sawh.
