Who killed the old fruit-seller?

Mar 09, 2014 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

By Michael Jordan
The man who came to kill 74-year-old Khirul Najidam seemed to know her routine well. He sneaked into her Lot 1215 Gaulding Place, South Ruimveldt home after midday, when the schoolchildren who came to her little shop were back in class, and when the area was practically deserted.

Khirul Najidam

Najidam, known as ‘Babloo Saddick’ and ‘Auntie’ to residents, was a widow, had no children and lived alone. She made a living by selling sweets and a variety of fruits from the trees in her yard, and according to one neighbour, she got along well with everyone. The only problem she occasionally had was with youths who would steal a fruit or two from her trees.
When she wasn’t selling in the little bottom-house storeroom, neighbours would see her resting in a hammock.
At around 16:00 hrs on March 4, 2011, a group of girls who attended the South Ruimveldt Secondary School entered Nadjam’s yard to make a purchase. However, they saw no sign of the elderly sweet-seller. After calling and getting no response, two of the girls then went to the storeroom that Najidam had converted into a shop and peeped inside.
They saw Ms. Nadijam lying motionless on the storeroom floor. Someone had gagged her and used strips of her clothing and a hammock rope to bind her hands and feet. And that someone had also strangled her.
The discovery sent the young girls running out the yard and over to a nearby internet café where they recounted what they had seen. Neighbours then contacted the slain woman’s relatives and the police. Detectives who arrived at the scene found the upstairs flat ransacked.
One neighbour recalled seeing Najidam at around noon earlier in the day. Another neighbour claimed to have seen three boys running from the yard some time before 15:00hrs that day. However, the neighbour assumed that the boys had been raiding ‘Auntie’s’ trees once again.
Detectives who visited the scene dusted the premises for prints and checked for

Khirul Najidam’s home

other clues, but made no arrests. On the surface, Najidam seemed to be the victim of a vicious burglar. But some neighbours had their suspicions.
According to one report, prior to his death, Khirul Najidam’s husband, known as ‘Uncle Saddick’, had left a property to her in his will. It was alleged that some individuals had resorted to forgery to get their hands on that property. This had led some neighbours to speculate that the dispute and ‘Auntie’s’ murder were connected. Najidam’s house remained unoccupied for several years, but has since been sold.
Three years passed without police having a clue about the identity of Najidam’s killer. Then, sometime last month, local police acquired a computerised system which helps investigators to quickly ascertain if fingerprints they have taken from a crime scene are a match to those they have stored in a database.
Using the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), fingerprint experts discovered that a print that they had lifted from Khirul Najidam’s home, in March 2011, was a match to fingerprints they had taken from an individual with an alleged criminal background.
Police say they are trying to locate Roger Brandt, who is wanted for questioning in relation to the murder of Najidan Sadick (Khirul Najidam).
Brandt is of African ancestry, brown in complexion, and his last known address is Lot 169 Stevedore Housing Scheme, Georgetown. Anyone with information that may lead to Roger Brandt’s arrest is asked to contact the police on telephone numbers 225-6411, 226-7065, 225-8196, 227-1149, 911 or the nearest police station. All information will be treated with strict confidence.

Wanted: Roger Brandt

If you have any information about this case, please contact Kaieteur News at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown location. We can be reached on telephone numbers 225-8458, 225-8465, 225-8491 or 225-8473. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address: [email protected]