Roshnie Basdeo, a 37-year-old mother of three, has been remanded to prison for the brutal murder of her great aunt, 85-year-old Sumintra Sawh, called “Aunty Betty”.
Basdeo, who was unrepresented, appeared before Magistrate Peter Hugh at the Weldaad Magistrate’s Court where she was not required to plead.
The woman was remanded to prison and the matter was adjourned to December 14 at the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court.
The incident occurred during the wee hours of Monday at the pensioner’s Bushlot, West Coast Berbice home.
An autopsy performed on the body revealed that the pensioner died as a result of a number of injuries inclusive of multiple stab wounds, asphyxia, and a fractured skull, among others. In their initial report, police had said the woman had six stab wounds: one each on both sides of the temple, three on the forehead, and one to the back of the head.
The postmortem examination was performed on Tuesday at the Bailey’s Funeral Home, Number Three Village, WCB and the woman’s body has since been handed over to relatives for funeral arrangements.
On Monday, Sawh was found lying motionlessly in a pool of blood on her bed after her home was invaded. Police said the woman’s great-niece claimed that she was awakened by a male who was in her room and who had a knife to her throat, demanding money. She had also claimed that she was pulled out of her bedroom and saw a second stranger in the house. She also told Police that she was placed in a chair and bound to it with a piece of ‘sling’.
However, under intense interrogation, the woman broke down and confessed to being part of the plan to rob her aunt of the $350,000 cash she had in the house.
In her confession, the woman admitted that she was never tied up but in fact she had left a door open for her aunt’s neighbour to enter the house to carry out the robbery. She said she showed him the bag which contained some $350,000 and documents, and the neighbour went into the bedroom and started beating the woman with an object. In fact, she admitted to witnessing the man killing her aunt. She said in her confession statement that the killer is a 48-year-old neighbour who would normally visit the home.
