The dead woman in the locked house

Jun 28, 2015 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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By Michael Jordan
The teenage boy who did odd-jobs for Sirmattie Ramnaress didn’t see the body right away. He arrived at the spacious Diamond Housing Scheme residence at around eight o’clock on Saturday, August 31, 2013, found the gates locked, and observed that the bonnet of one of the vehicles in the compound was up. He pressed the gate buzzer, got no response,

and left.
According to one report, when the lad was some distance away, he saw the same vehicle racing away from the businesswoman’s 21st Avenue home. He reportedly concluded that ‘Auntie Sabo’ as the woman was also known, was the driver.
The teen returned about an hour later.  Standing outside the locked gates, he observed that the garage door was now half-open, and lying on the ground, near the entrance, was the motionless body of Sirmattie Ramnaress. He rushed over to a neighbour and related what he had seen. At the same time, the neighbour observed smoke rising from a bond behind the businesswoman’s premises.
Firefighters arrived soon after. They were forced to cut through a padlock on one of the front gates to gain entry to the compound. But all their efforts could not prevent the well-stocked bond from being completely razed. Practically nothing inside was saved.
A post mortem would later reveal that someone had clubbed the 46-year-old businesswoman repeatedly to the head and body, and had also tried to strangle her. The murder, it is believed, occurred around the time when the teenager had first checked on Ramnaress. It is even believed that the killer or killers were still in the house.
A bloodstained length of wood appeared to be the murder weapon. A clown had reportedly used that same piece of wood as a prop at the victim’s birthday party, held just five days prior to her death.

Investigators also observed a trail of blood leading from the smoldering storage bond to the garage. This suggested that someone had attacked Ramnaress in the bond then dragged her, feet first, to the garage. A brother of the victim believes that his terrified sister tried to secure herself in a nearby washroom, but that the killers forced the door open and dragged her out. But he doesn’t believe that Ramnaress died immediately. According to the brother, his sister’s killers, for some reason, picked up a phone in the bottom flat and left a partial recording of their deed.
Checking the phone after the murder, the brother said that he heard a recorded voice say ‘You supposed to be looking outside.’ This is followed by the sound of someone groaning and a glass door being pulled. Police reportedly have this recording, but have suggested that this was merely an incoming call being recorded.
Relatives and detectives also surmised that Ramnaress had known her killers and had let them in. Intensely security-conscious, the businesswoman had installed several security cameras in practically every area in and around her premises. The building also had an alarm system. From what relatives said, Ramnaress would only allow very close associates into her home.
The system was even set up to allow Ms. Ramnaress to view her premises while she was abroad.
It should therefore have been easy to identify the businesswoman’s last visitors. But someone had removed many of the surveillance cameras and devices for the security system. Even the digital video recorder which Ms. Ramnaress had concealed in a karaoke machine for the surveillance system was missing.
Detectives found that the home was ransacked and according to relatives, a handbag, believed to have contained foreign and other currency, was missing. Ramnaress’ siblings also claimed that someone had carted off several microwave ovens that were stored in the bond.
As the handyman had related, someone had also made off with one of the slain woman’s cars. The vehicle was found some hours later on the Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara public road.
But the investigators didn’t think that robbery was the primary motive. They felt that someone had tumbled things about the premises to give the appearance of a robbery. They believed that the individual or individuals had even left some beer bottles in the kitchen, to suggest that the killers had consumed the beverages.
The investigators were also baffled as to why the killers had set the bond on fire and also doused sections of the house with diesel fuel. Some surmised that someone had attempted to conceal crucial evidence about the murder.
But who would have wanted to murder Sirmattie Ramnaress? Who was this cunning and brazen individual who had apparently gained access to her home and committed murder in broad daylight? Why had he or she come to the scene without a weapon?
Ms. Ramnaress, an importer and distributor, had celebrated her 46th birthday just five days prior to her murder. She and her overseas-based fiancé were planning to get married in September 2013.
Among the first people at the murder scene was Ramnaress’ former boyfriend, Sergeant Collin Bailey. They’d had an approximately six-year relationship. Understandably, he came under scrutiny of the investigators. They questioned their colleague about his movements at the time of the murder and reportedly took DNA samples from him. He was never detained.
Ramnaress’ siblings were upset that Bailey repeatedly described himself as her reputed husband, particularly when, according to them, the relationship had long ended. They were also upset that he was given access to the crime scene, even before they themselves knew of their sister’s death.
But Sergeant Bailey insists that he and Ramnaress were still together. He said that he had slept at her home the night after her birthday party. He said that he had extra keys to Ramnaress’ home and he gave the relatives these keys, because the ones Ramnaress had could not be found.
Bailey said that he was aware that his ‘reputed wife’ had a fiancé. According to him, she had always insisted that the man, whom he described as a retired policeman, was merely a business partner.
“I’m cooperating with the investigation; I want to ensure that this crime is solved. Despite the understanding that the husband should be the prime suspect, my conscience is clear, my whereabouts are known. “I don’t intend for my wife’s death to go just like that.”
Ramnaress’ close relatives insist that they know who killed her, and why. They believe that all the evidence points to this individual, whom they believe wanted to get his hands on her assets. They claimed that their sister had been in an abusive relationship and that she had documented this physical abuse in two diaries. They claim that even after her death, the individual continues to attempt to try to have access to her assets.
Some of the relatives feel that police have failed to put this individual under intense questioning. The brother also feels that detectives also overlooked possible DNA evidence at the crime scene, such as a cigarette butt that was reportedly found in a washroom in the bottom flat. It is also his view that a male associate of their prime suspect and a female friend of his murdered sister may have assisted in her demise.
Detectives insist that they are still working the case and that they haven’t given up on finding Sirmattie Ramnaress’ killer.

If you have any further information on this or any other case, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown office. We can also be reached on telephone numbers 22-58473, 22-58458, 22-58465, or 22-58491. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address [email protected]

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