Thirty-year-old Savitree Gangadeen, whose nude body was discovered on Sunday in a desolate spot on the Linden Soesdyke/Highway died as a result of strangulation and her neck was also broken, according to a post-mortem examination (PME) performed on her body yesterday.
The woman’s sister, Sharon Gangadeen, told Stabroek News that she witnessed the PME yesterday and expressed the hope that the man, who was arrested on Sunday with scratch marks about his body and with the woman’s ring in his possession, would be charged soon.
A senior police officer yesterday said that the man has since confessed to the gruesome crime and that police may have an “open and shut case.” The man has not implicated anyone else in the crime, but the officer said the file still has to be sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Gangadeen’s body was found around 6 am on Sunday hours after she went missing and after telling her ex-husband that she was giving an employee of a sand pit owner in the area a drop to Red Loom. The woman’s car was discovered shortly after she went missing with her sleeping eight-year-old son in the back seat.
Meantime, a senior police officer has since travelled to the Timehri Police Station to investigate the report that ranks from the station may have heard the woman screaming but failed to investigate even after her car, slippers and some of her clothing were found. The woman’s ex-husband indicated to relatives that after she did not return, he went to the area and waited for her but she failed to show. He then contacted some members of the area’s policing group; the police station was also contacted and a lone rank went with the policing group members to the area. According to the man while they were there they heard the scream of a woman but the community policing member and the policeman were not too keen on venturing into the area and instead left with him and the car.
The man was held for several hours and made to give the police a statement before returning later with other relatives and searching for the woman whose body was later found nude and lying face down. The woman’s sister was on Sunday very upset and pointed out had the lawman and community policing members done more her sister’s life may have been saved.
Gangadeen worked her car as a taxi but also operated a small shop at the Soesdyke junction and residents described her as a hardworking woman who was always pleasant. She has left her 12-year-old and 8-year-old sons to mourn her death.
