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Acting Crime Chief vows…“We will find Kescia Branche’s killer”
– as investigators say ‘child father’ was with victim on fateful night
Acting Crime Chief, Paul Williams last night vowed that his team of investigators will track down the individual who murdered Kescia Branche.
But he is meanwhile appealing to her relatives, friends, and the public for patience and co-operation, as the probe into the petite 22-year-old teacher’s death entered its seventh day.
“We will break this. Definitely we will solve this,” Williams told Kaieteur News during a brief phone interview.
“All we are asking for is time, and patience from relatives, friends, and the co-operation of the public, and any assistance, but we will solve this. “The Guyana Police Force will solve the murder of Keisha Branche.”
Williams gave the assurance even as it was revealed that investigators continue to focus on one individual, who appears to be their prime suspect.
Kaieteur News was told that detectives have released the slain teacher’s male friend, who was allegedly found with one of her cellphones, and who, police had said, had been in constant contact with Branche, “on several occasions via cellphone, in the early hours of that morning, prior to her being discovered.”
An official also said that police had found no evidence that a vehicle that was impounded was linked to the case.
A source had said that the postmortem indicated that Branche’s injuries appeared to be consistent with those inflicted by the impact of a vehicle. A postmortem revealed that Branche succumbed to brain haemorrhage, caused by blunt trauma to the head.
Kescia Branche
And in what may be a key development, the police official stated that investigators have established that Branche, and the father of her child, were together prior to her sustaining her fatal injuries.
They were reportedly “in the same area”, prior to her allegedly leaving in the company of two police ranks.
“Could she have been trailed?” the source queried.
The ‘child father’, and two police ranks remain in custody. Police are likely to approach the courts today in a bid to detain them further.
Acting Crime Chief Williams also revealed that, on his instructions, detectives again interviewed “two main witnesses.”
“We did back interviews with them. There are certain questions that we needed answers for.”
One is a constable who claimed that he had transported the teacher to Prashad Nagar on his motorcycle and dropped her off there.
Two other policemen claimed that they had spoken to Branche in Kitty, after seeing her standing near a night club waiting for a taxi.
They alleged that they accompanied her to a Mandela Avenue night spot. One rank alleged that he went home to use a washroom, and when he returned, the teacher and his colleague were gone.
Branche, of First Street, Cummings Lodge, was found unconscious at around 05:00 hrs on Sunday on the parapet at the corner of Princess Street and Louisa Row. Her left leg was broken and she sustained multiple head injuries. She died at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation on Tuesday.
The callous nature of Branche’s killer(s) has caused some to liken the case to the 1993 murder of 20-year-old security guard, Monica Reece, whose body was dumped, or fell out of a pickup, after she was subjected to a brutal beating that left her with a broken jaw and other injuries.
At a press conference, Police Commissioner, Laurie Lewis had vowed that the police would “solve this crime.”
The case was re-opened last year, with a senior police official indicating to the media that individuals had tampered with the investigation back then.
Though evidence now points to one “high society” individual as Reece’s killer, the case remains unsolved.
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