Latest update March 24th, 2025 7:05 AM
Body in Triumph cemetery… Cops seek publichelp to find BV teen’s killers
Murdered: Rainella Benfield
Crime Chief Paul Williams is appealing to the public for assistance in solving the murder of Beterverwagting teen, Rainella Benfield, whose battered body was found last December in a cemetery at Triumph, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
The Crime Chief assured that all information received will be treated in the strictest of confidence, a DPI release stated.
“I am still appealing to the public out there if you have any information as it relates to how we can be able to solve that murder; I look forward to your cooperation. We are still working seriously in terms of solving that murder and by God’s grace, I hope we do. If they (civilians) do not feel that they are definitely safe talking on the phone, because they do not know who they are talking to. I have an open door, they can definitely come and talk with me.”
In addition, the Crime Chief said the public cooperation is important to ensure the suppression of crime across the nation.
“We see the importance of partnership; we cannot do it alone. If the public really and truly wants crime to be under control, it simply means that their cooperation is totally paramount. Because if they don’t, many a time we can only be reactive, despite as much as we want to be proactive. But, once they send information and they let us know exactly what is likely to happen, what they observe, what they see, we can get on top of the game. We can be able to now really and truly prevent and suppress criminal activities,” Crime Chief Williams added.
Rainella Benfield, of Lot 99 Canterbury Walk, Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara, was reportedly last seen alive at around 18:00 hrs. on Saturday, December 9. Her body, with part of the face bashed in, was found on December 11 in the aforementioned cemetery.
Police believe she was killed by someone who repeatedly struck her in the face with a rock, which was left near the corpse.
The method in which she was slain led to the conclusion that vengeance, for some possible grievance, was the motive.
“From the outset, when we look at the type of injuries sustained, and the post mortem, we realised that it (the killing) would have been meted out (because) of grievance, affair, passion, as it relates to something she may have known or heard,” Crime Chief Williams had told journalists at a press conference last month.
He also said that information had surfaced that has caused his detectives to be “looking at a group to see definitely if there is any information that we can use to pursue further investigations.”
According to Rainella’s father, Rainsford Benfield, the ‘group’ to which Williams referred reportedly comprises individuals, who first corresponded via Whatsapp.
“From my understanding, the group started to meet, and then began to get bigger,” Mr. Benfield, told Kaieteur News in a recent interview.
“For me, it seems that it moved from being company to being a cult.”
But Mr. Benfield said that he knew nothing about the group to which his daughter belonged until after her death. He speculated that his daughter was slain “because of something she found out, or something she may have done, or refused to do.”
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