Eyewitness account leads to arrest of neighbour, other resident

AN eyewitness account into the murder of 57-year-old Jennifer Ann Mendonca of Prince William Street in Plaisance, East Coast Demerara, whose bound body was discovered in her home last Friday evening, has led to the arrest of two persons.

The Guyana Chronicle was informed that the suspects both lived in the same street as the woman, and one is said to be her neighbour while the other resides a few houses from the woman’s residence.

One of the two men was deported to Guyana from another country.

Information reaching the Guyana Chronicle is that, earlier on Friday afternoon, the eyewitness had heard the woman’s dogs barking loudly and continuously, and he had noticed a tall man wearing a tope leaving the yard.

The eyewitness, however, did not raise an alarm, since the presence of the man, while strange, did not raise any suspicion that he might have committed any indecent or unlawful act against the woman, who is well known throughout the community.

After the woman’s bound body had been discovered and the police began questioning persons in the area, the eyewitness recounted what he had noticed earlier in the day.

Taking the description given, the police carried out a search of a home a couple of houses from the dead woman’s residence, and a man fitting the description given by the eyewitness was arrested. In addition, during the search of the house where the man was found a tope was also discovered.

Police have already lifted fingerprints from the scene, and, up to late last evening, were still processing the prints to see if they matched any of the persons who have been arrested for questioning.

The police reported yesterday that, based on the information received a quantity of jewellery and electronic items had been missing from the woman’s home. The house was ransacked when the residents in the area discovered that the woman had been lying bound and motionless on her bed.

Persons in the area raised an alarm on Friday night after they did not see the woman for hours, and as the place got dark, the lights in her home were not switched on. A neighbour then informed the others that the back door to the woman’s house was open, and that prompted residents to venture into her house, where they made the gruesome discovery: The woman’s body lay motionless, with her hands and feet bound and with a pillow over her face. The body is presently at the Lyken Funeral Parlour awaiting a post-mortem, which is to be conducted tomorrow.

Persons in the area have expressed shock at the woman’s gruesome death, and have opined that she had known her attackers.

(By Leroy Smith)