As the police continue to investigate the murder of businesswoman Sattie Beekharry, family members are still puzzled as to what might have been the motive and the relationship, if any, between the suspect in custody and the dead woman.
Bonny Singh, the dead woman’s nephew, yesterday told Stabroek News that Beekharry and the suspect are not related by blood.
Up to yesterday, Singh said, the family, including Beekharry’s children, was still seeking answers about her death.
“At this time, no. The kids don’t know him. We don’t know him. We understand that he was a taxi driver. He use to come by and do errands for her. Up and down and stuff like that for her,” he said.
Beekharry was the mother of four children, all of whom reside overseas. According to Bonny, they are currently engaging officials here to determine whether they will be able to travel for her funeral in light of the travel restrictions in place due to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“The children are out there but they don’t know one thing that is going on…..They are trying to ask the government to see if they will let them come,” Bonny noted.
Sixty-one-year-old Beekharry was murdered in her Lot 152-154 Begonia Drive, Atlantic Gardens, East Coast Demerara house on Monday afternoon. She was reportedly stabbed several times. Her throat was also slit.
Region 4(C) Commander Assistant Commissioner Royston Andries-Junor had previously told Stabroek News 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 had 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 to get him to exit his hiding place.
He remained in police custody yesterday.
Andries-Junor said that investigators are hoping to wrap up their investigation by today so that the file can be sent for legal advice on the way forward.
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 COVID-19.
Tony (only name given), a handyman who works with one of Beekharry neighbours, had told this newspaper that he was performing his duties in the yard when he heard Beekharry shouting “Murder! Help!”
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,” he had said.
A post-mortem examination is scheduled for today.
