Three men are expected to appear in court today over the dismembering of Samantha Benjamin of Buxton.
A labourer who had been living in the house where Benjamin was suspected to have been chopped to death was held last week. Another of the men was apprehended in Melanie Damishana on Saturday, and the other was caught at Vigilance yesterday, sources say.
Police sources have told Stabroek News that the labourer confessed to killing 40-year-old Benjamin. Stabroek News was told that the labourer told the police that two others helped him to murder Benjamin. It is alleged that the labourer killed Benjamin because he wanted to rob her and he dismembered the body in order to make it difficult to find and identify her.
Benjamin was a United States citizen and proprietor of a boutique in the Vendor’s Mall on Water Street. Her estranged husband positively identified her remains.
The woman’s dismembered body was found at the Annandale foreshore on March 26. The head, legs and arms were found later at the foreshore after the water receded at about 12:10 PM the same day. It wasn’t until April 1st that Benjamin was positively identified.
Benjamin had moved out of her husband’s home because they were having relationship problems. Her husband said he had not seen his wife since then but they would stay in touch via phone.
A relative of Benjamin told Stabroek News that when he visited the house where she was staying in Buxton, blood looked like it had been trickling down the beams. Blood was also found between the grooves of the floorboards.
While leaving the premises, the relative encountered the labourer and asked about the blood. The labourer told him it was cutex. Police were summoned and the labourer was arrested.
