A 61-year-old woman was murdered in her Atlantic Gardens, East Coast Demerara house yesterday afternoon and police were forced to use teargas to force the suspect out after he attempted to hide in the ceiling.
Sattie Monica Beekharry was reportedly stabbed several times about her body. Her throat was also slit.
Region 4(C) Commander Assistant Commissioner Royston Andries-Junor confirmed the fatal stabbing, which took place around 3pm at Lot 152-154 Begonia Drive, Atlantic Gardens.
He explained that the police were summoned to the scene by a neighbour, who heard Beekharry screaming for help.
By the time the police arrived, Andries-Junor said, the place was silent but they observed an individual, believed to be the suspect, peeping through a window. The police requested entry but the individual did not open.
As a result, they broke the door and went into the house. Beekharry’s body was discovered on the floor in the kitchen, which is situated in the lower flat of the house.
The suspect, who initially ventured into the ceiling of the house to evade the police, was subsequently arrested after the teargas was used.
Stabroek News understands that Beekharry resided in
Canada but would often travel here. She returned to Guyana weeks before the March 2nd elections and was unable to travel back due to the travel restrictions implemented as a result of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak.
Due to the delay, she started some renovations on her house.
Up to yesterday afternoon, the police were trying to ascertain what relationship Beekharry and the suspect shared.
When Stabroek News visited the scene yesterday, a number of persons who live in the residential area had gathered in shock as the news of the discovery spread.
As the suspect was being escorted out of the premises, many shouted at him in anger.
The dead woman’s nephew, Bonny Singh, told reporters that he received a call from one of his aunts, who related that she had just learnt that Beekharry had been murdered. “She said if I heard what took place with my aunt and I said ‘I got no idea.’ She said that somebody called and said your aunt got murdered and I said to her ‘What?’ I left astonished for a minute,” Singh recalled.
He said he subsequently called his brother and mother and asked them to pick him up for them to go to the scene.
“Upon arriving here, I was accompanied by the police and I went in. They asked me to identify her. However, when I went I see a few steps where they had some foot marks with blood and then I saw her lifeless body lying down,” Singh said.
He explained that although he is related to Beekharry, he hadn’t had contact with her for about three years.
“Murder! Help!”
Meanwhile, Tony (only name given), a handyman who works with one of Beekharry’s neighbours, told Stabroek News that he was performing his duties in the yard when he heard Beekharry shouting “Murder! Help!”
“I know is she voice I hearing. I hearing the lady hollering ‘Murder! Help!’ So like I couldn’t believe wah I hearing,” Tony said.
He noted that he immediately called for his employer, who called the police. “I go and tell the boss lady by the window. I seh this lady hollering fah help and murder,” he added.
Tony related that he then ventured out to an alleyway next to Beekharry’s property since the house was tightly secured. “I jump over we fence hay suh quickly and go in the alley by she back door side and I seh ‘Muds? Muds, yuh alright?’ And she seh, ‘No, help’. I seh I calling the police. Hear she ‘Call the police!’ Dah is the last thing the lady seh,” Tony explained.
“I didn’t go in the yard because all over was locked up. I was in the alley. The house was grill up and lock up, so the person, the man (suspect) was inside,” he added.
He said he rushed over back and told his employer to call the police.
According to Tony, a man frequently visited the house and would argue with Beekharry over money. “Up to Saturday I hear she and somebody had an argument in the house fah some hundred and twenty five thousand and she seh ‘Yes, I pay the workman’ because the lady was repairing, basically doing renovation to her place,” Tony said.
“It sad the woman dead man. If I did follow me mind, I feel I woulda save dah woman. I go fah bruk up, jump in the yard and start lash them window but people tell me ‘Bai you ain’t know wah is wah’…. I know the woman,” he added.
Beekharry previously owned and operated a clothing business in the Stabroek Market.
She was the mother of four children, all of whom reside overseas.