…suspect arrested after police tear-gassed house

A 61-year-old businesswoman was on Monday afternoon discovered dead by the police, in a pool of blood in her Atlantic Gardens’, East Coast Demerara home even as the suspect hid in the upper floor of the two-storey building.

He was subsequently arrested and taken into custody. Dead is 61-year-old Sattie Monika Beekharry of Lot 152-154 Begonia Drive Atlantic Gardens, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
As she fought for her life, Beekharry reportedly screamed for help, in an attempt to alert her neighbours. “I was over here cleaning the yard, and hear the lady hollering for murder, and for help; so I alerted my boss lady, and she called the police,” Troy Low told reporters. Low works in a house obliquely opposite that Beekharry’s home.

At the scene, Regional Commander, Assistant Commissioner Royston Andries-Junor told reporters that the police were called in around 15:00hrs. “The police entered the yard, and they observed a man peeking from a window; they asked him to open, he did not open and so the police broke the door and went in, and found the woman motionless,” the Assistant Commissioner told reporters. The woman’s body was discovered in the kitchen with glaring marks of violence.

Meanwhile, upon realizing that the police were closing in on him, the suspected reportedly hid in the upper floor of the house, and it was then that the police, reportedly tear gas the building so as to have him surrender. The man, according to neighbours, was known to the woman, and was often times seen transporting her around the city.

Beekharry’s nephew – Bonny Singh – told reporters that he received the devastating news of his aunt’s murder at around 15:45hrs from another relative, and immediately rushed to the scene. “Upon arrival, I was asked to accompany the police and I went in, and they asked me to identify her. However, when I went in I saw a few steps where they had foot mark with blood and then I saw her lifeless body in the kitchen,” Singh recalled.

“I don’t have a clue,” Singh said when asked what could have been the motive, noting that he was trying to grapple with the news of her murder.

He had not been in contact with his aunt for three years, and as such could not establish was relationship his aunt shared with the suspect. However, he confirmed that Beekharry lived in Canada and would periodically visit Guyana. According to him, she returned to Guyana weeks ahead of the General and Regional Elections. According to him, she had stall in the Stabroek Market.