A 30-year-old Soesdyke taxi driver and mother of two was yesterday morning found murdered behind the Jubilee Resort on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway and one man has since been taken into custody and has reportedly confessed to the crime.
The nude body of Savitree Gangadeen better known as ‘Mia’ of Soesdyke Public Road was found lying face down hours after her car was found behind the South Dakota, Timehri race circuit with her eight-year-old son sleeping in the back seat. The body, which according to relatives had its tongue protruding and a visible mark around the neck, was found in a bushy area known as Red Loam Pit.
The police and members of the policing group came in for stinging criticism as it is believed that they could have saved the woman’s life.
The woman’s sister, Sharon Gangadeen, yesterday called for an immediate investigation into the actions of a lone policeman who was in the company of some members of the Timehri Policing Group when they apparently heard a woman screaming but failed to further investigate.
While admitting that the place would have been dark, the sister said the men should not have left the area after hearing screams as they had found the woman’s car, her slippers and some of her clothing.
“My sister must woulda hear them and that is why she scream, she scream for help and dem just lef she and I hear that the policing members went to Kuru Kururu to help a man who drink poison. Tell me how dem could lef a screaming woman to go and look a man who drink poison who had family with he?” the woman questioned yesterday.
She said while her sister’s eight-year-old son was in the car at the time he apparently slept through the entire ordeal as he was still sleeping when the car was discovered at around 10pm on Saturday.
A man, who is an employee of a sand pit owner, was arrested hours after Gangadeen’s body was found and according to reports his body bore what appeared to be several scratch marks. He is said to have admitted to the police that he committed the act. He was also found in possession of the woman’s gold ring.
The ex-husband of the woman was also taken into custody after he called the police to the area where he said he was waiting for the woman who had gone into the area with a passenger.
Sharon last evening told Stabroek News that she saw when the suspect was arrested and he requested to speak to her but the police prevented him. She wondered if the man would have implicated others as it is believed that he was not the only one who carried out the dastardly act.
When Stabroek News visited the community hours after the woman’s body was found, residents were still reeling from the shock and many praised Savitree as a woman who was “good” and “hardworking” and always had a smile on her face.
The woman operated a small shop at the Soesdyke Junction but would also use her car from time to time to taxi persons. However, according to her relatives, she never transported persons she did not know.
Her sister related that on Saturday she had dropped persons into the area and according to her ex-husband she called him and said that she was coming out of the area but that she was stopped by an employee of the sand pit area who asked her for a drop.
“He said he ask she if she know the man and she say no but she know he by seeing he… and he tell she well if he ask for a drop give he a drop,” the sister said.
According to the sister, the ex-husband said that after the woman did not return he went to the area and waited for her on the highway and after he did not see her return he contacted the police. The woman said a lone policeman was available and he, along with some members of the policing group, visited the area and after searching found the car.
“When they find the car a door was open and dem see me sister slippers and then dem see some a she clothes and dem see like she was running and this boots print going behind she. And dem search and dem hear she screaming so me ain’t know why dem couldn’t save she,” the grieving woman said.
She said it was later yesterday morning that the ex-husband, who was still in police custody, along with others went back searching and found her body with a shoe lace next to it.
According to her, when the suspect who lived in a house in the area owned by his employer was found, one side of his boots’ lace was missing.
And according to the sister, Savitree and her ex-husband shared an acrimonious relationship and only recently the woman had taken out a restraining order against him.
However, she said she is not discrediting what the man said about her sister calling him since she noted that the couple shared two children and there were times when the children even though they lived primarily with their mother would spend time with their father.
She pointed out that on Saturday night the couple’s 12-year-old son was with his father and she surmised that the woman could have called the man to indicate where she was and that she would pick up the child after the drop. She also explained that the man is also a taxi driver and she is aware of instances when the two would pass on customers to each other.
“But is for the police to investigate and see if she call he or even if she call he around the time he say, the police have to do dem work,” the woman said.
The woman yesterday said her sister worked very hard to maintain her children. She pointed out that it was her sister who left the home she shared with her husband and she took nothing but instead struggled to build a house for herself and children.
Meantime, some residents yesterday expressed doubts about the policeman heading the Criminal Investigation Department at the Timehri Police Station properly solving the gruesome murder.
