-victim was drowned, autopsy finds
Ramesh Muniram, the man who allegedly killed his wife before dumping her body into a canal at Nismes, West Bank Demerara, was yesterday charged with murder, hours after a post-mortem examination revealed that she died from asphyxiation due to drowning.
Muniram, 28, of Unity Street, La Grange appeared before Magistrate Nyasha Hatmin at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrates’ Court and was later remanded to prison until February 22. It is alleged that he murdered Sunita August on Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning Muniram reportedly told his mother and a friend that he had killed his 24-year-old wife and consumed poison. He had a green substance, suspected to be gramazone, smeared all over his face. Police were notified and ranks went to the Nismes sea dam, where they found August’s clothing, including underwear, pants and her slippers as well as a bed sheet near the koker. Her body was not there, but there was evidence on the ground that suggested that someone had been dragged towards the koker, a police source told this newspaper.
Police went beyond that spot, combing the sea dam for the woman’s body but came up empty-handed. While this search was being conducted, other policemen, some armed, were combing the bushes behind Unity Street, La Grange where Muniram had fled. Police told Stabroek News that the man was spotted around 1 pm but fled and they did not fire at him because at that stage it was unclear whether he had indeed committed a crime. August’s semi nude body was fished out of the canal around 6 pm.
The police combed the bushy terrain for several more hours but were unable to find Muniram.
He turned up at the La Grange Police Station the following day in the company of a relative-hours after his mother was detained for questioning.
From the reports reaching Stabroek News, August left her home on Wednesday morning to meet Muniram, from whom she had separated after a dispute, to collect money for two of her children who he had fathered. Persons living close to the dam that leads to the koker at Nismes recalled seeing August being reluctantly led to that area by the suspect some time on Tuesday.
On Wednesday morning though, Muniram was seen towing his wife on a bicycle, heading in the direction of the koker. He was seen leaving the area alone some time later.