THE police have not yet been able, up to late yesterday, to arrest anyone suspected of the dastardly rape and murder of a 67-year-old mother of three, whose naked and brutalized body had been found in bed at her Lot 665 Topoo, Albion home by relatives on Monday morning.

Senior police sources yesterday confirmed that they were still conducting their investigations and working on leads to ascertain who may have been responsible for the pensioner’s death.

Ramdai Mohabir, called “Aunty Elsie”, had been discovered dead by relatives shortly after 07:30hrs on Monday morning.

Her son, ‘Short Boy’, who made the horrifying discovery, said he immediately called out to his older sibling, Mrs Vinmattie Reddi, who lived a house-lot away.

“When my brother alerted me, I thought my mother had fallen, as she had difficulty in walking after she involved in an accident many years ago,” Mrs Reddi said.

According to Mrs. Reddi, on looking through her window, she observed that several louvre panes were missing from her mother’s house, but she was made aware of what had happened to her mother only after her brother had raised an alarm.

Mrs Reddi said she hurried over to her mother’s house, only to find her lying naked in bed, with an empty bottle of baby oil, a new toothbrush and several safety pins strewn about her.

“My mother’s feet,” she said, “were upraised, and there was blood all around. Her left side face was swollen (and) her right side neck had a bruise. The two bed sheets were crumpled, as both were under her body. Apparently, she was resisting (her attacker/s). Her neck was swollen and the pillow was found under the bed. She had (had) $6000, (but) that was missing.”

Mrs Reddi said she covered her mother’s body before alerting neighbours to the tragedy. She said her mother had, by request, begun to live alone in her own home, situated aback her son Short Boy’s fenced residence, a mere six months ago.

She recalled last seeing her mother at approximately 17:00hrs on Sunday, just before her sister-in-law took dinner for her.

“When my sister-in-law took the dinner, my mother accepted it through the window. My mother (used to have) trouble with her nerves; sometimes she would open the door for the food, and other times she would collect it through the window. My mother (was) on medication from the doctor; I would sometimes give her a valium,” Mrs Reddi disclosed.

The police have indicated that the woman appears to have been strangled, as her home showed signs of forced entry, in that several louvre panes had been removed from her window to facilitate the intruder/s gaining access to the home.

Speaking with this newspaper via telephone yesterday, the dead woman’s daughter-in-law recounted events leading to the discovery of the woman’s body. She explained that her sister-in-law had gone from the front house to the woman’s house at the back, and had realised that several louvre panes had been missing from the woman’s house.

She became afraid, headed back to the front of the yard, and called out for the dead woman’s son, and together they returned to the house, where they observed that louvre panes had been missing from the back room which leads directly to their mother’s bedroom.

When they peered into the house, they saw the woman lying naked on the bed with her two feet in the air. They immediately raised an alarm, and the woman’s grandson then entered the house through the same window, opened the door and placed a sheet over the woman’s body.

Asked if they have any suspect in mind, the woman said they are not aware of anyone who might have wanted to hurt their mother or cause her such a dishonourable death.

An assortment of female underwear were allegedly found on Sunday afternoon at the wooden fence behind the slain woman’s home.

The body of Ramdai Mohabir is currently at Ramoo’s Funeral Parlour awaiting post-mortem examination, but investigations are ongoing. Ramdai Mohabir had worked as a fish vendor in her early days.

(Leroy Smith and Jeune Bailey Van Keric)