Angry relatives of Guyanese Natasha Ramen, the Grove woman who was killed by an accused rapist, also a Guyanese, are blaming prosecutors for her gruesome murder. They are saying she might still be alive if prosecutors had done their job right and had the accused’s bail revoked.
These charges were made by Ramen’s relatives at a court house in Queens where the suspect, Hemant Megnath, was arraigned yesterday. He was refused bail on the charge of murder.
The beautiful young woman’s throat was slit, allegedly by Megnath who was on bail on a charge of raping the 20-year-old woman. Ramen was scheduled to testify against Megnath who had allegedly threatened to kill her if she did.
It was revealed in court that the judge who presided over Megnath’s hearing for the rape charge never received information that the man had allegedly threatened to kill Ramen if she testified that he raped her in May 2005. The judge granted Megnath $10,000 bail. Had the judge known of the murder threat allegation he could have thrown Megnath back in jail when the case was heard again a couple of months ago.
Megnath’s trial will begin next month.
Despite a protection order, Megnath made the frightening threats to Ramen’s in-laws at their home on October 20 and 21, after which Queens police arrested him on aggravated harassment charges.
Queens prosecutors notified their counterparts in Brooklyn who were handling the rape case, but presiding Judge John Walsh never got the message.
Brooklyn District Attorney, Charles Hynes’ office said instructions were given to his juniors to apprise the judge of Megnath’s arrest on harassment charges in Queens, but the judge said he never received any information.
Megnath’s harassment charges were eventually dropped by Queens prosecutors when Ramen’s in-laws refused to cooperate with police. Sources said they were afraid to talk with authorities because of their immigration status.
“I didn’t think anything bad was going to come out of it,” her father in-law Robin Ramen said.
“I wish I would have taken this thing more seriously. I thought if I leave it alone he wouldn’t bother [his family], but I guess it was the opposite way.”
Even as she lay dying, Ramen used her own blood, pouring from her neck, and her index finger to scrawl some kind of message on the back door of her Queens home, a relative said yesterday. Investigators have been unable to decipher the bloody marks.
Megnath, 29, is now finally behind bars after a Queens judge remanded him without bail yesterday.
Ramen’s angry aunt Selema DeLeon said: “What was he doing outside walking the streets? He made threatening calls. We reported it to the police. He shouldn’t have been on the outside. The judge gave him more than enough time to kill Natasha. The system failed her.”
Ramen’s uncle, Narine Bharat, said: “Much more should have been done to protect her. There is no law in New York city. What do we have to do, go back to the Old West and hang him?”
Queens District Attorney, Richard Brown described the handling of the case as “sad and tragic”.
Hynes said his office should not be blamed for the murder although he admitted his prosecutors made a mistake. “It was an honest mistake.”
Despite the outrage over the murder, police say they don’t have hard evidence against Megnath although Leonard told cops he saw Megnath’s black Honda in front of their home. Also, reports say, he also texted a message to Leonard.
If convicted of the murder, Megnath faces imprisonment for life without parole.
