Living alone has proved to be deadly for elderly women in recent times, since over the last three years there have been at least eight cases where they have been found murdered. In most instances there was also a suspicion of rape.
All the women were killed in their homes after they had been broken into with the exception of two, one of whom was found under an abandoned building not far from her house and the other floating in a canal.
With the recent murder of Joyce Lewis, aged 75, concerns are being raised not only about the nature of the crimes themselves, but what elderly women can do to protect themselves from intruders.
In an invited comment, former police commissioner Winston Felix said that elderly women should avoid living alone for their own safety, because if they take ill for example they would have no one around to help them. He noted that unlike overseas there are no programmes in place here where, with the press of a button help can come to the elderly. “It is a big risk for elderly people to be left alone at home,” he said, adding that those who need help around their house must “know who they bringing in their yard to do work for them.”
He said that if living alone cannot be avoided then there should be a routine arrangement where they are in telephone contact with someone. The home, too he said should be properly secured. He said that based on previous cases grillwork is not proving to be enough to keep intruders out, and those who can afford it should consider installing an alarm system which is connected to one of the local security firms. He said that an alarm alone will not be enough as a response is needed when that system is triggered.
Felix noted too that the elderly should not keep large amounts of cash nor jewellery in their homes and again, if this is unavoidable, then it should not be out in the open for visitors to the home to see.
Going out and coming in late should be avoided, he said, while adding that proper lighting around the house should be on the list of priorities. While noting that some people would bear the cost of putting a street light in front of their homes, this may not be practical for an elderly person, he said, as the old age pension cannot even sustain them on a monthly basis.
In these particular murder cases, while the police may have arrested persons of interest they have been unable to positively link those persons to the crime. The main reason for these cases remaining unsolved is that neighbours have claimed that they had not seen or heard anything suspicious and because the area is dark.
Speaking on police investigations into these types of matters, Felix said that collecting every possible clue or evidence from the scene is crucial.
He said that in most of these cases the perpetrators are drawn to elderly people because they know their vulnerabilities and they can be easily taken advantage of. This category of citizens are special targets, he continued, and whenever people get the chance to attack the elderly they will take it.
He went on to say that one of the issues police face is the unwillingness of persons who may have information to come forward. He said that if persons don’t provide information the police cannot “magically” deal with the matter.
According to Felix, matters of this nature will require a lot of forensics involvement at the scene, including fingerprinting, blood samples and samples of a seminal nature, in order to identify the perpetrators.
The fingerprinting aspect may be the most helpful to the police as ranks have undergone training in the use of a recently donated fingerprinting machine. Already it has proved its worth in one murder case and several break and enter matters. DNA testing is also on the cards, but there are delays in the progress of investigations as the samples have to be sent abroad. Police have said that the samples in one case have been sent Brazil for testing under a recent arrangement.
Thorough investigative work is critical to solving these sort of cases, Felix told Stabroek News – “Not just turn up at the scene this minute and then you gone the next minute.” He emphasised that if it’s a case that the investigators have be at the crime scene from morning until nightfall to ensure that they cover all the angles and collect every piece of evidence that is present, that is what has to be done.
He said that if ranks don’t painstakingly examine these scenes, “they will never come close to picking up anything which would lead to tracing the perpetrators. They have to spend time on the scene.”
DNA
While it is unclear if the police have managed to collect DNA evidence from any of the other scenes, they have collected some in the brutal rape and murder of 90-year-old Millicent Prince-Cummings which occurred on April 12 last.
Several men who were known to be in the area around the time the elderly woman was believed to have been killed had been arrested. Crime Chief Seelall Persaud had said too that investigators suspected a drug addict might have been responsible for the crime. All of the men were later released but not before DNA samples were taken from them.
Prince-Cummings, a mother of one was found beneath a house around 5.30 am with her head bashed in. She was exposed from her waist down. A post-mortem examination later revealed that she had been sexually assaulted and that she sustained blunt trauma to the head. A condom packet, believed to be linked to the crime, was found close to the body.
From all indications, the woman who lived alone was attacked shortly after she left her home on the public road at Cove and John, East Coast Demerara. At the time she was going on one of her usual early morning walks. She was heading in the direction of Victoria and could have been attacked as she passed an abandoned house, which is located next to a cemetery.
Lewis who had returned to Guyana from New York last December, was found dead in her Lot 3630 Christiani Street, North Ruimveldt home last Wednesday by the police and her sister, Veronica Deen around 8.30 am.
She was found sprawled on a bed with her underwear pulled to her ankles. There were also dark marks around her neck.
The intruder is believed to have gained entrance through a window at the back of the two-storey house. The window was broken and the grill barring entry into the house was clipped. Residents said the area has been plagued by robberies recently.
Since the discovery there have been no arrests and it is unclear if police have identified any persons of interest.
Jasmattie Pooran, 70, was found murdered in her Guava Bush, Berbice home last January. She was found on the floor of a kitchen that was separate from her house. Her body bore bruises and her hands were tied together with cloth and a piece of canvas rope was tied over her mouth, police had said. A post mortem examination later revealed that she died of suffocation. Persons had been detained but they were all released subsequently without charge.
On January 1, 2012 Bebe Jahooral Banu was found in her Lot 5A De Willem North, West Coast Demerara bottom flat apartment, with her stockings, pants and underwear pulled below her knees, her top pulled up to her shoulders and a piece of cloth around her neck.
A post mortem examination revealed that Banu, 66, died of manual strangulation. A man was initially held for questioning but was released after police said he was not a suspect. A second man was later held before also being released.
On February 15, 2011, Rampattie Ramsundar, 64, was found in the kitchen of her Lot 88 Second Street, Enmore home, with her hands bound, an item around her neck and marks of violence about her body. A post-mortem examination revealed that Ramsundar, also known as ‘Aunty Daro,’ died as a result of asphyxiation due to manual strangulation compounded by blunt trauma to the head.
The woman lived alone. Robbery was suspected to be the motive behind the woman’s murder, since she was said to have had $600,000 in her possession around the time she was killed. The money was not found. Initially, two men were held for questioning but later released as police found no evidence that could link them to the murder.
Wanted bulletin for suspect
On March 4, 2011, Babali Sadiq, of Lot 2115 Gaulding Place, South Ruimveldt Park, was found bound and gagged in the kitchen of the bottom flat of her home, a few yards away from a confectionary stand she operated. Sadiq, who was also known as ‘Khirul Rajidam’ and ‘Aunty,’ was said to be in her early 70s and she lived alone. She sold snacks to school children for her living.
Police have never made any arrests in the case but have since issued a wanted bulletin for Roger Brandt. The bulletin was issued earlier this year and it is unclear how he is being linked to the murder.
On April 19 of the same year, Sukhdai Ramkilaum, 68, called ‘Mama Rose’ and ‘Rosaline,’ was discovered in a pool of blood in her bedroom at her Lot 80 Vryheid’s Lust North, East Coast Demerara residence.
Neighbours found her clad only in a t-shirt in her ransacked bedroom. They had decided to go in search of her after having not seen her during the day.
A police tracker dog picked up a scent that led to the home of a man with whom she had had a feud. He was taken into custody but was later released since he could not be linked to the crime by any evidence.
On August 29 at Mahaica backlands, 68-year-old Phulmattie Rami’s relatives found her beaten and broken body floating in a canal at Cane Grove.
The fisherwoman/vendor was stripped and beaten to death before her body was thrown into the canal. Relatives said Rami left her home every day between 6.30am and 7am to go into the backlands to catch fish and shrimp and it would have been easy for someone to track her movements.
Her daughter said Rami would usually be back by 2pm if she did not go to sell her catch. When she failed to return, her relatives became worried and launched a search for her. They said when they reported her missing at the Cane Grove Police Station, officers told them to search for her.
They found her clothes along a dam that she normally traversed and her naked body floating in the canal about four miles away. A post-mortem examination revealed that the woman died of multiple injuries.
