POLICE Sergeant Collin Bailey, the reputed husband of murdered businesswoman Sirmattie Ramnaress, told the Guyana Chronicle that no DNA samples have been taken from him in relation to the investigation, as was reported in a section of the media on Wednesday.

He said he is fully cooperating with the police, has presented himself at all times to assist in the investigations, and has not been told he is a suspect.
Bailey said that following the murder of his common law wife of 21 years, he followed the normal police procedure, despite what is being peddled in the media, and was on the day in question on escort duty following the arrival of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Moros.
A visit to the man’s Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara home yesterday found him preparing for a wake. Bailey said he had had a normal relationship with his late reputed wife, and she was a frequent visitor to his home, as she did on Wednesday last, when she had even brought food for him, some of which was still in his refrigerator yesterday.
He added that during her visit on Wednesday, she had loaded her minibus, which is parked in his yard, with some goods that were stored in his house; and together they had even celebrated her birthday, which was on June 26, 2013.
Bailey said he and his late wife were very much together, and he cannot understand why some of her relatives are denying their relationship, although he had displayed several pieces of her clothing and personal effects, including documents and photos of them together, which he had in his house yesterday.
Bailey said, “I hope this would be over quickly in the sense of finding who are responsible for her murder, because I have seen things that (were) reported in the media….
“It hurting me, but I am not bothered at all about the investigation, because my conscience is very clear. I would never consider doing something like that, and I want to get those responsible.”
Bailey said he is very hurt about people pointing fingers at him, and he urged relatives of Ramnaress to come forward with the information they may have, as was reported in the media, saying they know who the killer is, because justice needs to be served.
Bailey told the Guyana Chronicle he was not aware that his reputed wife had been seeing anyone, the same person who surfaced in the media saying that he had been the boyfriend of Ramnaress, but he knows that they had been business partners.
He said he was present when two of Ramnaress’s siblings showed up for the post-mortem yesterday, and he briefly spoke to her sister, who was very emotional, causing him to also cry.
Bailey could barely contain himself when he spoke to this newspaper detailing the relationship he had had with Ramnaress, which began in 1991. He spoke of how tirelessly his reputed wife had worked to build her business and house, saying that she had started from scratch when she used to sell on Regent Street with a small stall, before she opened a snackette, then a stall selling plucked chicken in the market, and later began trading to Trinidad, after which she began exporting salted fish and wild meat.
During her regular visits to Trinidad, he disclosed, she had developed business contacts, her business had expanded, and at one time she had been the sole distributor for Chief brand products in Guyana.
Pointing to a  motorcar parked in his yard, Bailey said it was the first car they had together and that  it was his reputed wife’s desire to keep the vehicle because it was her first car, which she had used to transport goods. He said she never wanted to do away with it.
He added that they had encountered many people, and many businesspersons could attest to what he is saying, because of how they had lived; and those people, including her employees, can attest to some facts.
Bailey, who is the Station Sergeant of Vigilance Police Station, East Coast Demerara, said his late wife’s relatives presently do not count him as her reputed husband, but he is nevertheless cooperating with the police because she would not have wanted anyone to fight over possession of her body, since she had been a peaceful person who believed in settling matters amicably.
The body of  Ramnaress was found in the lower flat of her posh two-storeyed home at Lot 2430, 21st Street, Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara by one of her employees who had turned up for work, as usual, on Saturday morning. Her corpse bore stab wounds, her throat was slit, and it appeared that she had also been beaten on the head, while her house was ransacked and the lower flat drenched with dieseline, but not set alight.
The Police Public Relations Office yesterday said Ramnaress had died from a ruptured spleen and brain haemorrhaging.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said fingerprints were lifted from the businesswoman’s vehicle, which was found abandoned at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, and from her home.
Several persons, including the woman’s husband, have been questioned by the police.
A storage bond at back of the premises had been gutted by a blaze that was doused by fire fighters who were summoned to the scene.
Ramnaress, who lived in the house alone, was seen sweeping her yard on Saturday morning, within the property that was well protected by alarm systems and a huge fence.
However, although there were surveillance cameras, footage from them is missing, as well as cash and jewellery.
Neighbours did not recall hearing any distress call emanating from the businesswoman’s home, nor did they see anyone entering or leaving the place.