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Matthew’s Ridge murder… Victim was raped, suffered fractured skull
– police seek fourth man
Two condoms found near the battered body of Samantha Ashby may offer police vital clues to the identity of the men who raped the 32-year-old and dumped her corpse in a clump of bushes at Matthew’s Ridge.
Victim: Samantha Ashby
A post mortem performed yesterday by Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh showed that Ashby died from multiple injuries, which include a broken hip and fractured skull.
Relatives of the slain woman also said that they were told that Ashby was sexually assaulted.
A senior police official told Kaieteur News yesterday that investigators took possession of two condoms that were found near the victim’s body, with the view of collecting possible DNA evidence from them.
However, this process is likely to take several weeks, since DNA testing is done overseas.
The official said that investigators are stymied by the fact that there are apparently no eyewitnesses to Ashby’s murder.
However, police have detained three men who were reportedly seen drinking with Ashby at a Matthew’s Ridge shop some hours before she was murdered. The men were brought to Georgetown yesterday for further questioning.
Kaieteur News understands that two of the suspects are truck porters while the third is a miner. Police are also reportedly seeking a fourth man.
Ashby, of Pakera, North West District, was discovered in a clump of bushes at Matthew’s Ridge at about 10:45 hrs on Tuesday.
According to a source, the discovery was made by some schoolchildren near a playfield in the community. From all indications, the woman died sometime Monday night.
A sister who spoke to Kaieteur News conceded that Ashby may have had a dangerous lifestyle, but said “she did not deserve to be treated that way.”
Ashby’s relatives said that they were further traumatized yesterday on discovering that the woman’s remains had started to decompose because staff at the Port Kaituma Hospital had apparently failed to ensure that the mortuary freezer was switched on.
They placed some of the blame on police ranks who had taken the body from Matthew’s Ridge, where there is a mortuary, to Port Kaituma for the post mortem.
An aunt said that rather than dressing the corpse, relatives will now have to wrap the decomposing body in a bed-sheet or in plastic before burial today.
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