POLICE have arrested a man who allegedly raped and then killed his aunt at Hopetown Village, West Coast Berbice sometime this week. Government Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh confirmed this to the police after performing an autopsy on the body of 78-year-old Volda Britton, also called “Auntie Volda.”
The woman was discovered lying on a bed at her Lot 9 Main Street, Hopetown Village home on Sunday morning.
Reports are that Britton died as a result of her hypertensive condition. At the time her body was discovered, there were bruises on her face and she was bleeding from her ear and nose. It was told to police that she had burst a blood vessel and had fallen and died. She lived alone, but had a great-nephew staying with her that night.

Dr Singh however said that the woman died from asphyxiation due to manual strangulation. Meanwhile, police told this newspaper that Britton was raped and sodomised, and a relative has accused police ranks at Fort Wellington Police Station of being negligent in their duties, saying that the lawmen had initially treated Britton’s death as flowing from natural causes. The relative, Randolph Britton, told the Guyana Chronicle that he had received information of his mother’s death on Sunday morning, and had immediately travelled to Berbice.
He said he realised immediately that the matter needed to be investigated. “The police lapse big. At no time police should say ‘carry the dead to the hospital and let the doctor pronounce it dead’, if you tell them that you come in the house and see the person lying dead on a bed.”

Randolph Britton related that when he arrived, he went to the police station and was told that the police did not visit the scene. “I requested to go with a police to see the body, so when we reach the mortuary and they open up the body, I see a bruise on her noise and a dig on her cheek and her temple black and blue, so I show the police it and told him that somebody can’t fall down and get all these marks; and then I see he take out his phone and start take some pictures,” Randolph Britton told reporters.

Investigations have so far revealed that, on Saturday, Britton’s nephew told his grandmother that he did not like the way his aunt was looking, and volunteered to spend the night with her. Another eight-year-old cousin also volunteered to sleep over at the woman’s home. Guyana Chronicle was told that during the night the 8-year-old woke up and did not see her grandmother lying next to her. As the girl began to cry, the elder cousin reportedly came into the room naked and hit her on the leg, punched her on her mouth, and told her to stop crying. Later, the cousin reportedly went to another family member and asked her to go and find out why the little girl was crying. The girl reported the story, but it was not taken seriously. At the same time, the nephew went to his grandmother and told her that she needed to go and see what was wrong with her sister. It was at this point that the body was discovered.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the same nephew reportedly grabbed his grandmother’s two legs and threatened to rape her if she did not give him $10,000. The matter was reported to his uncle, a rural constable, who arrested him. According to reports, while in custody information surfaced that Britton was murdered and her nephew, known as ‘Two Kick’, was the suspect.
The suspect, who is in custody, is expected to make a court appearance today. He was recently released from prison after serving a four-year sentence for larceny. Britton leaves to mourn eight children.