-charges likely to be laid
The high court has granted a police request for the extension of the detention of two of the five suspects held in the Smythfield, New Amsterdam double murder while three others were released on station bail yesterday.
Police sources said that charges are likely to be laid against the two suspects pending further investigations.
The gruesome discovery of the remains of Nekecia Rouse, 25, and her sister-in-law, 18-year-old Alexis ‘Keisha’ George was made between 6:30 am and 7 am with wounds to their necks. Rouse’s body also bore stabs to the left ear and right shoulder.
New information coming to light revealed that Rouse was on the phone with a female friend moments before her demise and had told the friend that she had go because a male friend [whose name Rouse reportedly mentioned] was at the door.
Investigators said the killer appeared to have been invited into the house as there was no sign of forced entry. Rouse had been at a party the night before and a male friend reportedly dropped her home sometime between 3 am and 4 am.
Reports are that the attacker must have also been an acquaintance because he had apparently removed his footwear before entering. This view derives from the fact that the blood stains on the kitchen floor showed that the attacker was barefoot.
It may be that George heard a commotion in the house and when she came out of her bed to investigate she too was attacked. She then fled down the stairs, leaving trails of blood and then ran across the street into the neighbour’s yard where she collapsed.
Her body was discovered in a yard obliquely opposite – under a tree, braced on an old stove – while Rouse’s remains were found in the kitchen. They were both covered in blood.
Police are urging persons to come forward with any other useful information and assured that it would be treated in the strictest confidence.
Reports are that neighbours did not hear any screams.
However, a resident from the area said he was returning home around 3.40 am after dropping off passengers in Georgetown when he saw a white AT 212 Toyota Carina motorcar speeding out of the area.
This newspaper learnt too that a woman woke up during the wee hours of Sunday and heard a door at the house slam shut. She looked out and saw a car parked near an empty lot close by. She also saw a motorcycle shortly after.
She didn’t think that anything was amiss and went back to bed only to find out the following morning that the women were brutally murdered.
June Joseph, a security guard said that her daughter never indicated to her that she had any problems.
She said when she left for work at around 8:30 pm her daughter who was in a jolly mood told her she was going out for the night with her “girlfriends.”
Meanwhile, George’s mother, Sunita Sugrim told this newspaper yesterday that her daughter “never used to walk about and never had problems with anyone.”
She said George, the second of three sisters, was just 15-year-old when she became involved with Rouse’s brother, Travis, with whom she shared a one-year-old daughter.
The woman said she last saw her daughter around midday on Saturday when she went to the supermarket to purchase items for the baby and she told her that Travis had sent money for her.
Sugrim said a neighbour called for her after 6 am on Sunday and told her to “put on your clothes and come with me.” She said she did not question the woman where they were going “because I think she wanted me to follow her somewhere.”
Before they got to the scene the neighbour told her that “me daughter dead and me ask she which one and she said Keisha. I tell she no, it can’t be Keisha…” and only believed after she saw the body.
George’s sister, Shanti Sugrim described her as “a very loving sister. We got along well and I would really miss her.”
She said her sister would have celebrated her 18th birthday tomorrow and she was planning to “surprise her and put her birthday request on TV.
But I didn’t have the slightest idea that we would have to put her death announcement on TV instead.”
Relatives are trying to make arrangements to inter the remains of the two women on Sunday.
