Relatives of Jennifer Persaud who along with her two sons was murdered eleven months ago say that the police have failed to investigate a telephone call which may be a key element in the case.
During the telephone conversation between Persaud’s mother and the relatives of the two men initially held, one of them was identified as the killer.
Although so much time has passed, and little progress has been made in the case, relatives are still keeping their fingers crossed that soon their many questions will be answered and the perpetrators singled out. They are convinced that about three persons were involved in the killings.
Persaud, 41, and her sons Afridi Bacchus, 6, and Jadon Persaud, 18 months, were discovered on September 22 last in her bedroom, with stabs wounds and their throats slit. The woman was found lying in a pool of blood on her bed, clad in nightwear, with the body of the older child between her legs. The infant was found wrapped up in the netting.
The father of the youngest child is suspected of being the mastermind of the attack. The 23-year-old man who had been deported from the US and an uncle he was living with were arrested but later released.
Recently Stabroek News met with Persaud’s parents Kumar and Sankhaori and cousin Jerry Alleyne.
Alleyne said that the telephone call should be one of the key pieces evidence in the case and as such it needs to be looked into. At the time the call was made he was not in country but when he met up with Persaud’s parents that was the first thing that was mentioned.
Sankhoari recalled that the day after the bodies were discovered the telephone at Persaud’s Anna Catherina home rang. The woman said that when she answered a woman on the other end identified herself as the prime suspect mother (who lives, in the United States) and began offering her condolences. She is also the sister-in-law of the other person detained. The woman said that while they were speaking, the phone was snatched from the woman and a male came on the line who said, “It’s not meh son who kill. I know is who, is meh brother,” The phone went dead after that, said Sankhoari.
Persaud’s relatives told Stabroek News that what is even stranger is how the suspect’s family would have known that he was implicated when the two had been in custody since the night before.
“The police is not doing enough… the telephone business is my main concern. That is a key factor in this case. I am still surprise that this is yet to be mentioned even though the family reported it twice.”
The woman’s relatives said that as they await the results of the blood and fingerprint samples sent to Brazil, there is still a lot more that can be done at this end.
Kumar pointed out that it is his belief that the neighbours know what happened, as it would have been impossible not to hear Persaud’s screams and the cries of her children as they were being killed.
This newspaper was told that there were spaces between the boards of the house which was still under construction, and as such the sound would have escaped.
According to Kumar, the neighbours are probably afraid to come forward with what they know. They are calling on the police to revisit the area and interview the neighbours.
Satisfied
Though the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had lashed out at the police for their poor work in this case, Kumar told Stabroek News that he was satisfied with the level of work that the police did that night after the bodies were found. He said that ranks spent hours there, during with some thirty plus samples were collected and placed in bags. Among them were drink bottles which had blood and fingerprints, the man said. It was later that the police investigations trailed off.
He said the only fault he had with the police that night was that they did not bring a tracker dog to help pick up the trail of the killers.
Following her death, this newspaper had been told that the woman was being abused by her partner and had recently evicted him from her home. Persaud’s parents told Stabroek News that the woman probably did not tell them that she was being physically abused because she was ashamed.
They said that while Persaud never told them anything she would confide in a niece, and had the niece informed them of what was going on, she might have been alive today.
A distraught Sankhoari said that she could never forget what happened to her daughter and two grandchildren. As she spoke her eyes began to water. She said that justice is taking too long to come.
Although eleven months have passed Kumar remains certain that once the tests come back he will get all the answers he needs. Those were sent to Brazil some time after the DPP blasted the police about their poor investigations.
Stabroek News had been told that the numerous stories of the woman’s reputed husband and his strange behaviour after the bodies were discovered also raised suspicions, but police did very little to clarify these issues although he was said to be the prime suspect.
Around 1.30 am on day the bodies were discovered, Persaud during a telephone conversation with a friend had said that “Bruckhand” and his friends were drinking in the shop and would not leave. The woman related to the friend that she wanted to close up because she was sleepy.
The woman operated a shop beneath her home. Based on what this newspaper was told investigators made no attempt to ascertain at what time ‘Bruckhand’ who is a resident of the area, left.
Later that day around 11.30 am, her nephew arrived at her home to collect some chicken but found the building locked and Persaud’s vehicle parked in the yard. According to information collected by the police the nephew inquired from the neighbour about his aunt’s whereabouts and when they replied that they had not seen her, he returned to his home at Friendship, East Bank Demerara where he informed his grandmother (Persaud’s mother) of the situation. Persaud usually opened her business around 6.30 am every day.
The nephew and the grandmother waited until the grandfather cane home and the trio along with the woman’s ex-husband travelled to the house. When they arrived there around 8.15 pm, the place was still locked up and in darkness.
They subsequently found the back door open and after checking the house which was in darkness, found the bodies in the upper flat.
