Alfred Branche, father of the late Kescia Branche who was brutally murdered in November last year, broke down in tears in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday after seeing photos (exhibit A) of his 22-year-old daughter’s body at the time it was discovered.
The preliminary inquiry into Kescia Branche’s death is ongoing in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, and apart from her father Alfred Branche, Hazel Richardson, an audit officer attached to the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation, also testified in the preliminary hearing.
Taxi driver Matthew Munroe faces an allegation of murder committed on Kescia Branche in November last year. Attorney-at-Law George Thomas, representing the 47-year-old Munroe, told the court that his client, who has been in custody since November 30, has denied committing the crime, and is maintaining that he was not in the jurisdiction at time of Branche’s demise.
Thomas claims that his client’s mobile phone was confiscated by the Police, and records can prove his claims.
The Police are contending that the car from which Kescia Branche was allegedly dumped reportedly belongs to Munroe. Upon receiving that bit of information, the Police immediately named him as a person of interest.
Munroe had departed Guyana for the USA allegedly at some time in November last year, but after spending some time in the United States, had returned to Guyana and presented himself to the Criminal investigation Department in the company of his lawyer.
The Police say that during interrogation, Munroe could not provide information on his whereabouts on the night that Kescia Branche was brutally attacked; and that more so, he failed to give Police information on his missing car bumper.
The late Kescia Branche, a teacher and resident of Cummings Lodge, Greater Georgetown, was discovered lying at the corner of Princes Street and Louisa Row in Georgetown on the morning of November 5.
She succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital two days after her discovery, and a post mortem performed on her body indicated that her death was due to brain haemorrhaging and blunt trauma to the head.
According to reports, Branche had left home for a night of partying. She had left her three-year-old son in the care of a friend, who revealed that Branche told her she had intended to go to Palm Court to meet a male friend.
The teacher had later returned home, but subsequently left again. She had told her friend that she would be home by 02:00h, but never returned.
She was last seen leaving a nightclub on Lamaha Street in the company of two Police ranks.
The father of Branche’s child was also arrested after the teacher’s mobile phone had been found in his possession. He, along with four cops, were questioned about her death, but were later released on station bail.
The preliminary inquiry continues.
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