A newly-wed couple was yesterday morning found dead in their home at Sarah Johanna, East Bank Demerara (EBD) with police stating that the matter is being investigated as a murder/suicide.
The deceased couple has been identified as 25-year-old Nicholas Low-a-Chee, and Elizabeth Sasha Low-a-Chee, 27, of Lot 1-3 Sarah Johanna, East Bank Demerara.
The death of the couple has left family members and friends baffled as their presence at family celebrations over the holidays gave no indication of any domestic dispute between the two.
The police yesterday afternoon said that the couple was found by an uncle of Nicholas.
Elizabeth’s body had what appeared to be gunshot injuries, one above her right eye and another in her abdomen, while the body of Nicholas Low-A-Chee was found with what appeared to be a gunshot wound just above his left ear and another to the right side of his temple in what are suspected to be points of entry and exit.
Three .32 spent shells were found in the bedroom, one on the bed, one on the floor and the other about six feet west of the man’s body. A .32 pistol was found two feet east of his left hand, the police report disclosed.
The couple was last seen by neighbours on Sunday at around 10 am.
After numerous calls to Nicholas went unanswered, yesterday morning, at around 7.30am, an individual who is known to the family informed relatives that something was amiss as the back door to the couple’s home was open.
An uncle upon investigating ventured into the house and called out for Nicholas but got no response. This led him to proceed further into the house, in the direction of the bedroom. As the man walked up to the bedroom he started getting a foul scent.
As he pushed open the door to the bedroom, he stumbled upon the bodies of Elizabeth and Nicholas Low-A-Chee, in pools of blood on the bed and floor respectively. The uncle also observed what appeared to be a handgun, about two feet east of Nicholas’s body.
At the scene yesterday family members were hysterical and puzzled as to what would have triggered the tragedy. They stood in disbelief and as the bodies were removed from the house mournful wails pierced the tense atmosphere.
Elizabeth’s grief-stricken father Ricky Dass and Nicholas’ mother broke down in tears at intervals and had to be consoled by family members while investigators processed the crime scene.
Police Commander of Region 4 ‘B’, Senior Superintendent Mahendra Siwnarine told Stabroek News that while they are treating the investigation as a murder/suicide, they will have to await the results of the autopsies.
It is unclear at what time the deaths occurred but the commander said that when crime scene ranks saw the bodies, rigor mortis had already set in.
Dass yesterday told reporters at the scene that he is searching for answers. He explained that while he last spoke with his daughter on January second, he last saw her and Nicholas on New Year’s Day when they celebrated with family in Diamond, EBD.
He noted that in their last conversation on Sunday his daughter informed him that she was preparing to barbeque some chicken.
“On Saturday night they party with us and about 12 they left to come home. So I don’t know what happened. This [yesterday] morning when I come to work a guy tell me he heard my daughter get shoot up… when I come now I see this [the crowd] I don’t know what happened,” the distraught father explained.
He added that it was the “weeder man” who sounded an alarm after he arrived to cut the grass in the yard. Dass stated that his family learnt of the tragedy around 9 am yesterday.
The family described the couple as jovial and outgoing. After being in a relationship for over five years, they tied the knot last August.
“My daughter was a cool …person she wasn’t troublesome or anything,” he said before an aunt interjected that she loved her family and whenever she visited her father, she called over other family members.
“No! No! They were happy. Saturday, we didn’t know if they had any domestic problem… This just left us in shock… we and him get along he is a cool person too so it is very shocking for us…” the aunt added.
Police yesterday stated that after the bodies were uplifted by the undertakers of Memorial Gardens Funeral Home, they were taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre where they were formally pronounced dead.
The bodies of both Nicholas and Elizabeth were processed for gunshot residue and blood samples from Nicholas were taken along with what was found in the bedroom for DNA testing.
The bodies were then taken to the Memorial Gardens mortuary to await autopsies.
Several persons in the area were questioned but no useful information was obtained, the police added.
