Two men were yesterday being questioned as investigations continued into the strangling of a nine-year-old girl whose lifeless body was discovered amid a pile of logs on a Parika beach on Tuesday morning.
The body of nine-year-old Basmattie Seecharran was discovered on Tuesday morning. Her body was lying face-down.
One side of her face was swollen and blood was oozing out of her nose and ear. She was clothed in pants only. While the girl’s relatives had suspected foul play, police had initially treated the death as a drowning.
The post-mortem examination had revealed that the girl was manually strangled and was also sexually assaulted. Police sources had told this newspaper that they were pursuing all leads and had spoken to several persons. Two of those persons were yesterday being further questioned by detectives at the Leonora Police station. Both are said to be ‘junkies’ who frequent the area and one of them may have been with the girl as she went for a swim on Monday afternoon.
The man was reportedly seen later coming alone from the riverside and when asked where the girl was had indicated that she was at the river. Seecharran’s mother, Ramwattie Safeek had said that after her daughter didn’t return home she had looked for her for a while but gave up as she said that Seecharran would frequently go to her grandmother’s home in Zeelugt without telling her. A resident had also told Stabroek News on Tuesday that he had seen the girl at about 7 pm on Monday with a boy and had thought that they were going to a wake being held nearby.
Seecharran’s funeral is due to be held today.
