Two men were yesterday remanded to prison after they were charged with the murder of Tain Settlement pensioner Chandradarie Budhu, who was found dead in her home in June 2020.
On June 17, 2020, Budhu, 83, also known as ‘Aunty Deo,’ of Lot 83 Tain Settlement, Corentyne, was found murdered in her house just around 7. 30 am, during what appeared to be a robbery since the house had been ransacked.
Dannyram Ramdhanny also known as `Rocky’, 24, of Lot 82 Tain Settlement, Corentyne, and Kumar Bhagwandin also known as `Scare Crow’, 25, of Lot 28 Tain Settlement, Coren-tyne, yesterday appeared at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Rabindranath Singh via Skype after they were arrested on Monday.
The charge read that between June 16, 2020, and June 17, 2020, they murdered Budhu at Tain Settlement, Corentyne.
They were not required to enter a plea to the indictable charge and were remanded to prison. They will return to court on April 4.
A police source yesterday told Stabroek News that investigators were able to make a breakthrough in the murder case after arresting a suspect, 17, for a string of break and enter, and simple larcenies. While investigators were questioning the 17-year-old he confessed to being a part of the plan with three others to rob Budhu and then being the lookout during the robbery which turned into murder.
According to the source, the 17-year-old told investigators that he along with three others were at a house in Tain Settlement when they hatched a plan to rob the elderly woman.
The 17-year-old then told investigators that later that evening, he and the trio proceeded to the woman’s house and got inside by breaking a window.
Stabroek News was told that the 17-year-old said that he heard the elderly woman yelling and crying out for help for about one and a half-hours after which he did not hear a sound from her.
Shortly after that, the trio exited the house, and blood was noticed on one of the suspects’ feet and slippers. He said he questioned the suspect who said that “We just did what we had to do.”
At that stage, he said one of the men was holding a black string bag in his hand after which they all left the scene of the crime and went to the house where they planned the robbery and emptied the bag which had some gold earrings, gold chains, and gold finger rings.
A post-mortem examination done on the body of the Tain Settlement pensioner had revealed that she had been strangled and struck in the head by her attackers. The autopsy report stated that the woman died due to asphyxiation from ligature strangulation and also suffered blunt trauma to the head.
Stabroek News had previously reported that a piece of cloth was used to tie her feet together while her hands were bound with two pieces of cloth and a white bedsheet was stuffed into her mouth and then wrapped around her neck. The police had said she was found bleeding from the nose and with abrasions to her neck.
