Two elderly women were found dead, bound and gagged in their beds, at their South Road and Albert Street house yesterday morning, following a suspected robbery.
Constance Fraser, 89, and her niece Phyllis Caesar, 77, of Lot 243 South Road and Albert Street, Georgetown, were discovered around 9.30 am by members of their church, the South Road Full Gospel Assembly, after several efforts to contact them proved futile.
At the time of the discovery, their bodies were in separate bedrooms. Their hands and feet were bound and they were both gagged.
It is suspected that they had been the victims of a robbery sometime between Monday evening and yesterday morning, since the house was completely ransacked and several items were reported missing.
The door to the upper flat of the two-storey house was also discovered open and it is believed that the suspect/s might have gained entry into the house by climbing onto the verandah.
Up to last evening, no arrest had been made in connection with the case.
While Fraser was a retiree, Caesar was the caretaker of the church and also worked at a private school located a short distance away from the home.
Stabroek News was told that it was customary for Caesar to open the church every morning. However, church members sensed that something was amiss yesterday when she did not turn up to carry out her duties. As a result, they made several calls to her and visited the home but got no answer. They then noticed the door to the verandah open and upon checking they saw the bodies. The police were immediately summoned.
Neighbouring residents said that the house was previously broken into on several occasions.
“This is not the first time. The last time they go in there and carry away some coins and a phone, now they come fuh kill them. Fuh wuh? Wah they come and kill them fuh?” a visibly angry resident questioned.
This newspaper was also told that the women reportedly uplifted their pensions on Monday and as a result may have been preyed upon by a person or persons known to them. It was unclear whether any cash was missing from the house.
Neighbours did not recall hearing any strange noise coming from the house that may have indicated that something was amiss.
Why?
As news spread of the discovery of the women’s bodies, a large crowd, including many church members who left their workplaces, gathered at the scene in shock. “They were very nice people, they were gems and so old I don’t know why someone would want to do this to them,” a church member cried.
Many expressed their anger at the gruesome manner in which several persons of all age ranges have met their deaths recently and some called for the death penalty to be enforced. “Justice will prevail, they [the police] will catch them but it don’t make sense they put them in prison and feed them, they need to be hanged,” a male member of the church said.
Detectives spent almost three hours at the scene gathering information and searching for evidence that may lead them to the suspect/s.
A large number of police officers, including traffic ranks, were also summoned to the area to ensure order was maintained and to direct the traffic that built up as passersby, out of curiosity, stopped to get a glimpse of what was transpiring.
As the bodies were being removed from the house and into the hearse, some wailed loudly, while others joined hands and sang hymns.
A sister of one of the women and son-in-law rushed to the scene after receiving the news but were too inconsolable to speak.
Neville Giddings, a senior member of the church told reporters that the women were “ageable people” who could hardly help themselves.
He said he and his family were still trying to come to grips with their deaths.
Another member, Roy Marshall, said he was driving when he received a call from the administrator of the church, who told him that he was unable to get on to Caesar. The man said he rushed to the scene and was among several other members who made the discovery of the bodies.
Fraser and Caesar, who were the lone occupants of the house, were said to have been members of the church for decades. Most of their relatives reside overseas.
They were described as very jovial and genuine people.
