The evidence in the deaths of Cuban national Dr Guillermo Martinez and Berbican Usawatie Persaud whose bodies were found in a Bel Air house in March, 2010 points to a double murder, according to Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack who also said that the investigating ranks were not thorough and overlooked clues.
When the bodies were discovered on March 4, police officials said that the case was being treated as a murder/suicide since two knives and a suspicious bottle were recovered at the scene.
Following the deaths many questions were raised about the woman’s presence at the Eping Avenue location where the 58-year-old physiotherapist not only lived but where he carried on his practice.
When Stabroek News made contact yesterday with the relatives of the 47-year-old woman at their New Amsterdam home they declined to comment saying that they consider the case closed and that it would be too painful to talk about it now.
In a letter penned to the Commissioner of Police (ag) Leroy Brumell in January the DPP used this case to further support her point of the “inordinate time” the police take before sending a file for advice and the poor state of police investigations.
“This file was sent to these chambers 34 months after this alleged incident occurred”, she said adding that when it finally arrived, ‘it showed quite clearly that the ranks were not thorough and overlooked many obvious clues that pointed to a double murder”.
The letter stated that it was evident from the post mortem examination reports that “this was a double murder but due to poor police investigations no person has been charged and this double murder remains unsolved”.
Based on what this newspaper was told, police had never held anyone for questioning in relation to the deaths although they were said to be pursuing other angles in the investigation. It is unclear, what new clues they will be able to gather and who they can identify as a suspect three years after the crime was committed.
Government pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh had told reporters at the scene that Persaud and Martinez had been dead for approximately two days. When they were discovered, the decomposition process had already started.
The caretaker’s wife said she last saw the doctor two days before he was found dead while Persaud’s relatives said that she left home the day before saying that she was going to visit a friend.
While in the city later that day the woman encountered her mother, Lynette Persaud but the two went their separate ways. Lynette Persaud reportedly called her daughter around noon that day to ask whether she had concluded her business and was ready to travel home.
However, Persaud told her mother that she was visiting a friend. Her mother decided to see to additional errands in an attempt to give her daughter time to visit her friend. When Lynette Persaud called her daughter several hours later, around 4pm, she got no answer.
After the woman failed to return home that night her son, Steve, and a family friend journeyed to Georgetown in search of the woman. Steve explained that his mother would normally use Martinez’s services. He, like his grandmother, had last seen Persaud the day before she was found.
During their search, Steve reported that he and the family friend visited various locations, including several hospitals.
They eventually made their way to the doctor’s apartment from which he operated. Steve said they only looked to see if the door was open and upon discovering that it wasn’t they left. Steven declined to speak further on the issue.
Police has said that while a post mortem on the woman showed that she was stabbed to death, the cause of death for the doctor was inconclusive. Samples were reportedly taken from his body and it unclear if they were ever tested and if so what were the results.
