Female shop owner murdered in Mahaicony

Oct 18, 2016 News

– Bound body found in bedroom
– 14-year-old helper arrested
By Romila Boodram

Bibi Nesha Shairoon (inset) home.

The bound body of a 56-year-old woman was found in her Lot 4 Novar Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara home around 06:30 hrs yesterday, almost two days after she had been killed during what police say was a robbery.
The victim has been identified as Bibi Nesha Shairoon, a mother of three. She had been living at the property for more than 25 years. Up until her death, she was operating a grocery at the two-storey building where she lived alone.
A teenager, who was sent to the property to check up on Shairoon after neighbours informed her relatives that they had not seen her on Sunday, found the woman’s swollen body in a pool of blood on her bedroom floor with her hands and feet tied.
The woman was last seen around 20:00 hrs on Saturday.
A police source said that after examining the body, it seemed as if the woman was killed Saturday night. Investigators suspected that she was struck to the head with an object after she put up a fight.
A hammer which was found at the scene was sent to the crime lab for testing to determine whether it was used in the murder.
While it is not clear how many persons committed the act, the cops believe that it might have been two suspects, who gained entry into the building by ripping a few boards from the lower section of the shop, which is attached to the front of the house.
Kaieteur News understands that a number of valuables were missing from the shop, some of which include cellular phones, music sets, phone cards, and money among other items. The entire house was ransacked.
A 14-year-old boy, who assisted the woman in her yard and shop, was taken into police custody after the discovery was made, since he was the only one who was familiar with her home and her movements.
Apart from that, this newspaper was told that someone broke into the woman’s home about four months ago and stole a quantity of phone cards from her microwave—for that robbery, the woman had suspected that it was her teenage helper, since he knew where she hid the cards.
Relatives suspect that the person who robbed her months ago might have been the one who killed her Saturday night.
“A random person won’t just go in the microwave and take the cards. He had to know that she usually hide the phone cards there,” the woman’s relatives claimed yesterday.
When this newspaper arrived at the scene, detectives were still gathering evidence and interviewing neighbours.
The dead woman’s sister, Shauna Ally explained that a neighbour called her yesterday morning and informed her that they had not seen her sibling since Sunday. She did not open her shop and a padlock was on her gate.
“I sent a lil boy and tell him to call for her and if she ain’t answer, let him jump the gate and go in. And when the boy jump the fence, he walked at the side and saw the back door open. When he go into her room, he see her hands and foot tied,” Ally recounted.
She said that the teenager ran out of the house and went straight to her home, which is located a short distance away and informed her.
“When we come, we see her lying there. Her body was swollen and it didn’t even look like her,” the woman related.
One of the victim’s sons, Zaheer Waheed, explained that he was on his way to a worksite in the city from Timehri when a relative called and informed him that something had happened to his mother.
“I know she was a little sickly, so right away I drive towards Mahaicony and saw her body,” Waheed related. He recalled that he last heard from his mother a few days ago and everything was fine with her.
Meanwhile, shock, disbelief and anger were some of the emotions that were expressed by residents of the village yesterday when they learnt that the woman had been murdered.
“Imagine I live right next to her and didn’t hear anything. Nothing at all, no screams, no knocking or anything,” one woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
She explained that they would usually see Shairoon feeding her ducks and watering her plants, but when they did not see her on Sunday, they suspected that something had happened to her.
“When she is going out, she would lock the gate from outside, but we see the padlock on the inside so right away we suspect that something had happened to her,” the neighbour said.
As the investigation continues, the cops are looking for a second suspect, and an individual who was involved in an argument with the woman a few days ago.