A 75-year-old woman was brutally killed early this morning at her Charity, Essequibo Coast, home and police have since arrested the woman’s 22-year-old granddaughter.
Dead is Angelica Agatha Gamell, a pensioner of Lot 168 Charity Housing Scheme, Essequibo Coast. She was murdered sometime around 04:00hrs.
Police say the 22-year-old suspect, who is in custody, is the woman’s granddaughter.
According to reports, Gamell lived alone in a flat concrete house and would be visited occasionally by her granddaughter (the suspect).
On Saturday night at about 20:00hrs, the suspect visited the elderly woman in company with her one-month-old baby daughter to spend the night.
However, around 04:00hrs this morning, one of Gamell’s neighbour told investigators that she heard loud screams, tramping and crying of a baby coming from the elderly woman’s house. These sounds lasted for about 15 minutes.
Thereafter, the suspect went to the neighbour’s house and knocked at the door.
According to the neighbour, when she opened the door, she saw the 22-year-old woman with the naked baby in her hands. The neighbour said the suspect told her that the baby just died and attempted to hand the baby over to her (neighbour) who refused to take the baby.
The suspect then walked out the yard onto the street with her baby.
Police were called in and the crime scene was visited by the Regional Commander Superintendent K. Shivbaran, Dsp Duncan, Asp Lall and other ranks.
Upon inspection of the house, the ranks discovered Gamell’s body cladded in a white night-dress with suspected blood stains and black tights, lying face up on a floormat in the kitchen.
The body was examined and one large wound was seen behind the neck and one to the right-side temple. Also, two large wounds were seen on the back of the elderly woman’s head. All of the elderly woman’s hair was also shaved from her head and placed on the kitchen floor.
A pair of scissors with what appeared to be blood stains were found on top of a gas stove. A broken glass jar was found on the floor next to the body and cooking salt was seen scattered on the floor.
The suspect was later arrested, and the baby (whom she had in her possession at the time) seem to be in good health. The baby was handed over to a family member, police say.
The elderly woman’s body was escorted to the Charity Cottage Hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival by a Doctor on duty. It was then escorted to the Suddie Hospital’s mortuary for storage, awaiting a post-mortem examination.
Several persons were questioned. The suspect was seen with injuries on her right hand. When questioned by the police she claimed that she does not know how she received her injuries. She was placed into custody pending further investigations.
