The five murdered grandmothers

Dec 30, 2012 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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By Michael Jordan

Do the names Kharpattie Shivnauth and Rajkumarie Mahadeo mean anything to you? They don’t? How about Prampattie Ramsundar, Khirul Najidam and Sukhdai Ramkilaum? Still nothing?
I’m not surprised. They were not young or glamourous. But they had a few things in common.
They were all elderly women, they all lived alone, and they were all brutally murdered between 2009 and 2011. Three lived on the East Coast of Demerara, some eleven miles from each other; a fourth lived on the West Bank of Demerara and the fifth in Greater Georgetown.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not yelling ‘serial killer’, though even some police are wondering if there is a pattern here.
On Friday, August 28, 2009, Bhemwattie Ram, a resident of La Grange, West Bank Demerara, realised that she had not seen her active and healthy 80-year-old grandmother, Kharpattie Shivnauth, for the day. Shivnauth, called ‘Ma’, lived alone in her Lot 66 Independence Street, La Grange home.
‘Ma’ was an active individual who was usually up and about in her yard by 05:00 hrs. On Fridays, in particular, she would pick flowers and then pray in a small temple in her yard.
The worried grand-daughter contacted the elderly woman’s son, who lived a short distance away.
At around 19:00 hrs, the son, Gopaul Nauth, accompanied by a few other residents, ventured into Shivnauth’s home. Not seeing her in the hallway, and getting no answer, they ventured into her bedroom.
They found Kharpattie Shivnauth lying nude on her bed. Someone had tied her to the bed with strips of cloth. Another piece of cloth was tied around her mouth. It was later revealed that she was suffocated and sexually assaulted. The victim’s gold earrings, gold ring and gold bands were missing.
Shivnauth’s two-bedroom house was ransacked, and the son surmised that the killers made off with cash that his mother had stashed in her home. He speculated that his mother’s killers gained entry by climbing through an open eastern window, which had no panes.
Kharpattie Shivnauth was last seen alive the previous night (Thursday August 27), when she had attended a Mandir in the community. A hire car driver had dropped her home at around 20:00 hrs. She had reportedly rested briefly in a hammock under her house before going upstairs.
Almost immediately, police began to focus on a man who lived a few houses from Shivnauth’s.
Relatives alleged that the man was seen acting suspiciously outside the victim’s home on the night on which she was believed to have been slain. About two weeks before her death, the same man had reportedly tried to sell Shivnauth a gold chain. The elderly woman had ordered him off her property.
Relatives described the individual as a drug addict who had recently moved into the area. Someone who knew the suspect also claimed that the man’s jersey and his cutlass were found in Shivnauth’s home. Despite these leads, police were unable to link the man to Shivnauth’s death and eventually released him. No one else was ever detained.
Gopaul Nauth, the victim’s son, said that despite her age, his mother was healthy and did all of her own chores. At the time, he appeared to be convinced that more than one individual killed his mother.
“My mother was strong…is not only one person strangle her.”
Like Kharpattie Shivnauth, 78-year-old Rajkumarie Mahadeo was also healthy and active.
Unfortunately, she also lived alone in her Lusignan, East Coast Demerara abode. She habitually woke up early to tend to her cows. Most of the children she had raised single-handedly after her husband’s tragic murder. They had planned to give her an overseas Christmas vacation in December 2009.
But at around 05:45 hrs on Christmas Eve 2009, Mahadeo was found dead on the parapet outside her yard. She was still wearing some of her jewellery when her body was found.
A post mortem revealed that she had been strangled.
It is alleged that Mahadeo had received some threatening phone calls a few months before she was slain. The individual was questioned but was never charged and no one else was detained.
Mrs. Mahadeo’s children issued a reward for information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of her killers. To date, though, no one has come forward with any information that could result in charges.
In mid-February, 2011, some residents of Enmore, East Coast Demerara, were awakened by a woman’s screams. Those screams seemed to be coming from the Lot 88 Second Street home of 64-year-old Prampattie Ramsundar called ‘Aunty Daro.’
One neighbour peeped through her window and observed that Ramsundar’s front door was ajar. She called out to the elderly woman, but got no answer. When the neighbour peeped outside about an hour later, Ramsundar’s door was closed.
Later in the day, Ramsundar was found dead in the bottom flat of her home. Her hands were bound and a telephone cord was wrapped around her neck. Ramsundar’s house was ransacked and there were ashes inside, indicating that her attackers were smoking in the house.
A sister, who found the body, said that over $500,000 in cash was missing.
According to the sister, there was no sign of forced entry to the victim’s house. She believed that this suggested that her slain sister knew her attacker and willingly opened her door. Later that day, a police tracker dog led investigators to a house some two corners away from the slain woman’s house. The house was reportedly occupied by a man who was often abusive to Ramsundar. The woman’s killer remains unknown.
In early March of 2011, two schoolgirls found the body of 74-year-old Khirul Najidam, called Babloo Saddick, in a store room located in the lower flat of her 1215 Gaulding Place, South Ruimveldt Park residence. She was bound and gagged and her home was ransacked.
Najidam was last seen alive around noon on the same day she was slain.
The victim had operated a small confectionery stand.
At around 15:00hrs that day, a group of school children went to the woman’s house to make a purchase. After calling and getting no response, two girls ventured further into the yard and found the woman’s body in the storeroom. One neighbour claimed to have seen three young boys running from the house some time before 15:00hrs, but thought nothing of it, since some persons would often try to steal the woman’s fruits.
The following month, the partly nude body of 68-year-old Sukhdai Ramkilaum, called ‘Mama Rose’ and ‘Rosaline,’ was found in a pool of blood in the bedroom of her Lot 80 Vryheid’s Lust North residence. Her throat had been slit and her home was ransacked.
Like the other victims, Ramkilaum also lived alone.
The dead woman’s nephew, who lived next door, said that the first sign that he and his wife got that something was amiss was when the woman didn’t respond to calls the afternoon before.
His wife then observed blood dripping from the floor boards to the ground below. The nephew then contacted the police, who accompanied him to the house where they made the grisly discovery.
A police rank speculated that a ‘sadist’ or two may have been seeking out elderly women who live alone. “We can’t do away with this theory,” he said.

If you have any information about these or any other unusual cases, please contact Kaieteur News by letter or telephone at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown office. Our numbers are 22-58465, 22-58458 and 22-58452. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address: [email protected].

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