FIFTY-year-old Bibi Nazeela Habiboodean and the “hitman” she allegedly hired to kill her businessman father, 76-year-old Habiboodean, are expected to face the charge of murder at the Leonora Magistrate’s Court today.The elder Habiboodean, late owner of a gas station at Ruby, East Bank Essequibo, died at a hospital after being badly beaten in his home on February 15, 2008. His daughter turned herself in at the police station at Leonora, West Coast Demerara over a week ago, and has implicated other persons in her father’s murder.

Twenty-eight-year-old Linden Lewis, called “Bullet”, already in police custody in connection with the double- murder that occurred at Good Hope, East Bank Essequibo, has reportedly confessed to the brutal murder.

The legal advisor for the police has already recommended charges against Bibi Habiboodean and the alleged hired killer. The development came after Bibi Habiboodean reportedly provided investigators with a statement that was consistent with that given by her father’s alleged killer.

Shortly after the incident, police had arrested Terry Lewton, a former employee of the late Habiboodean, and Robert Parris, a relative of the alleged hired killer, but they were released because of insufficient evidence regarding their implication.

The police got a breakthrough in the case after the alleged ‘hitman’ and four others had been detained for the murder of Mohamed Munir, 75, and his wife Bibi Jamila Munir, 69, who were burnt to death in their Good Hope, East Bank Essequibo home last month.
While the alleged hitman was in custody, someone tipped off investigators that Lewis had vital information about Habiboodean’s death.

On February 15, 2008, a relative reportedly helped Lewis to gain access to Mr. Habiboodean’s house. When the “hitman” entered the businessman’s home, the elderly Habiboodean was reportedly sitting in a chair, and was struck repeatedly. He later succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.

Lewis reportedly fled to the interior, where he remained for two years, during which the police had arrested and charged Habiboodean’s former employee, Terry Lewton, and Bibi Nazeela Habiboodean for murder. They were subsequently discharged. When Lewis returned from the interior in 2010, he allegedly approached the plotters and was told that the case had been “dismissed.”