Davendra Ramdial, the man accused of the murder of missing Prospect resident Shawnette Savory, was charged based on legal advice given to the police following a reported confession, according to Crime Chief Paul Williams.
Although Savory’s body has not yet been recovered, Ramdial was charged on Thursday with murdering her. The two were said to have been romantically linked.
Williams yesterday told Stabroek News that Ramdial was arrested and questioned, during which time he purportedly provided investigators with a confession of the crime. “There is a precedent. There is a confession and he [Ramdial] maintained that story and also he would have shared with the police a site/location. We embarked upon that, started to check but then we met with some interruption due to the weather,” he explained.
As a result, Williams said the police went ahead and prepared a file for legal advice. The file, he added, was returned with the recommendation that Ramdial be charged with murder. “So… we sought legal advice and based on advice he was charged,” he noted.
Williams said ranks will return to the area identified to them and will conduct further searches for Savory’s remains.
Ramdial, 34, a porter of 186 Prospect, East Bank Demerara, appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in Georgetown and was not required to plead to the indictable charge that on August 30th, 2016, at Soesdyke, he murdered Savory.
Ramdial was subsequently remanded to prison and the matter was adjourned until May 24th.
Savory, a resident of 222 Last Street, Prospect, East Bank Demerara, was reportedly last seen leaving her apartment on August 29th, 2016.
Her sister, Vanessa Ramcharran, last spoke to her on the same day she went missing and Savory had informed her that she was going to buy credit for her electricity meter. Savory subsequently returned home and topped up the meter and the landlady said she saw her leave again. A missing person’s report was subsequently made at the Providence Police Station.
Following Savory’s disappearance, her family received calls and messages informing that a woman matching her description had been seen at a shack in Belle West, Canal Number Two, West Bank Demerara and that she was being held against her will. A check had been made at the shack by relatives and police ranks but nothing was found.
The family was informed that the shack belonged to the sister of a man Savory was once romantically involved with, but the relationship had ended not too long before the woman’s disappearance. The man was reportedly not too pleased about Savory’s decision to end the relationship.
In January, 2017, police had issued bulletins for two persons, Patrick Kissoon, called ‘Pato’ and Ritesha Rahaman, called ‘Tesha,’ for questioning in relation to Savory’s disappearance.
