– DNA testing not a present option
While investigators still search for a breakthrough in the murder of Shenese Richardson-Austin, who was fatally stabbed during a home invasion last month, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud has ruled out DNA testing as an option for the police at the moment.
From all appearances the woman had fought hard against her three attackers, pulling off the rag that one of the men used as a mask. Some observers had opined that DNA testing could have been useful in this case.
The woman’s husband was initially held by police but released after the 72 hours permitted by law had expired.
Her relatives are convinced that the attack was planned and that the men were sent to kill her. During the ordeal, the 25-year-old hairdresser was stabbed 13 times, the fatal wound being to her neck.
Contacted for an update on the investigation with specific reference to DNA testing, Persaud told this newspaper last week that nothing was sent for testing and “DNA is not something that is being explored at this time.”
However, he revealed that the file will soon come up for review and all possibilities to move the case forward will be explored.
Persaud went on to explain that at the moment the matter is being dealt with at a “Divisional” level and if nothing much is being achieved, a file will be prepared and sent to his office. If there are still no developments, the file will be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for instructions on further action.
According to Persaud, at any stage calls can be made for new approaches to the investigations.
The December 15 incident had the appearance of a robbery gone bad but relatives repeatedly said that the way the men operated indicated to them that it was a hit. During the 20-minute ordeal, Richardson-Austin was the only person beaten and stabbed with a knife taken from a hidden location in the kitchen.
The attack occurred at her mother’s home, where she returned to live about four months before her death, escaping abuse and infidelity at the hands of her husband.
A man had gone to the family’s home at around 11 that night to purchase cigarettes and when the woman’s sister turned around while serving him, the man barged into the house. Three other men soon joined him. The men had guns and were masked. They escaped with jewellery, Richardson-Austin’s phone and a substantial amount of cash. The woman’s husband, who had threatened her many times, was arrested but subsequently released by the police.
Relatives had said that several reports had been made to the police about the threats. When asked about this Persaud told this newspaper that he had not yet had a chance to check on the claim.
‘Fed-up’
When Stabroek News visited the woman’s home, her mother Jean Ann Richardson was still questioning why her daughter had to meet such a painful and cruel end. “This thing got me so upset because nothing ain’t happening in this matter,” she said, later adding that while she knows that this murder would eventually join the pile of unsolved, everyday she hopes that there is a breakthrough.
According to the woman, a policeman visited her home earlier in the month and took a statement from her. So far she has been unable to gather any information from the police regarding the case. “I am fed up and depressed. I think about her all the time… I can’t ketch meself because Bucky was the light in my life,” she added sorrowfully.
Richardson stated that every day she goes over the events of that fateful night in her head and always comes to a conclusion that the whole set up was strange. She said that the movements of one of the gunmen seemed familiar to her and the fact that a knife that was hidden away from sight was taken from her kitchen and used in the attack had indicated to her that at least one person who was familiar with her home was part of the attack.
The woman explained that she is the only person that handles that knife and she would usually put it in a specific spot in an overhead cupboard out of sight so that she would not have to search when she needed it.
She recalled that earlier that night her other two daughters went out and Richardson-Austin left shortly after saying that she was going to get something to eat.
She fell asleep but was awakened some time later to the screams of “Mammy! Mammy!” coming from Richardson-Austin. It was then that she saw a man pointing a gun at her younger daughter.
Seconds later, she said, a man rushed passed her door in a swift manner that seemed very familiar to her. He was followed minutes later by two masked men and then the gunman that was holding her younger daughter.
When she ventured to the back of the house where Richardson-Austin’s room was located, she found her lying face down on the floor in a pool of blood. A rag that was ripped from the face of one of the attackers during the incident was lying nearby.
The woman was adamant that the men were not there to rob as according to her a basket with money lay untouched on the kitchen table, money that was in a book in Richardson-Austin’s room was still there and while a drawer was pulled out, there was no indication that the men were looking for something. She further stated that her daughter was wearing all her jewellery when she was rushed to the hospital.
The men managed to gain entry after one of them went calling at the home for cigarettes. As Richardson-Austin’s younger sister turned to get change for the man, he and three others barged in. The ‘customer’ held her at gunpoint while the others went straight to the room at the back, when Richardson-Austin was sitting on a chair. When the injured woman was rushed to the Georgetown Hospital, she was still alive. She died about two hours later as she was being prepared for surgery.
According to Richardson, her daughter and husband had a rocky ten-year relationship, filled with infidelity and abuse. She recalled that her daughter had cause to make reports at the East La Penitence Police Station on several occasions. On one occasion, the husband was held following an incident a short distance from the station but released after a female rank told the couple to make up back and move out of her (Richardson’s) home. The couple did take the police’s advice and rented property at Ogle, East Coast Demerara. However the abuse and infidelity continued.
Richardson said she even took her daughter to Help and Shelter and the couple subsequently had a matter that ended up before the courts.
She placed some of the blame at the feet of the police for the way things ended. “If the police had done certain things, it wouldn’t have ended this way. Instead they advised them wrongly and the police did not follow the law,” the woman said slowly shaking her head.
She said that while the couple was living under her roof, whenever there was a quarrel, she always give her son-in-law the benefit of the doubt and always told her daughter to “mek up back with he and wuk pun your marriage.”
She had also insisted that her daughter be a good wife to her husband. Neither he nor any of his relatives attended her daughter’s funeral, Richardson said, but he contacted her on Boxing Day to collect his wife’s car.