Body found in barrel… Corentyne man charged for brutal murder of reputed wife

Apr 15, 2020 News

The man who was arrested for the brutal murder of his reputed wife, whose body was found stuffed in a barrel in a trench, has been charged with murder.

Devika Narainedat

Thirty-year-old Suraj Veerasammy called “Rabbit, a labourer of Hampshire Village, Corentyne, Berbice, was yesterday charged with murder committed on 24-year-old Devika Bikram Narainedat, a housewife of the same address, and formerly of 361 Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo. The act was said to have been committed between Wednesday 8th and Saturday 11th April 2020.
Veerasammy appeared at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Peter Hugh. He was not required to plea and was remanded to prison. The case has been adjourned to the 9th June 2020 and transferred to the Albion Magistrate’s Court for report.
A post mortem examination was performed on the woman’s body yesterday by Dr. Nehaul Singh, at Anthony’s Funeral Home, West Coast Berbice.
The body was identified by the deceased woman’s father, Chandrika Narainedat.
Dr Singh gave the cause of death as asphyxiation due to compound injuries to neck and blunt trauma to the back of head.
The badly decomposed and battered body of the woman was discovered on Saturday.
Suraj Veersammy was captured on Sunday at the Dharm Shala Shelter for the abandoned, located under the Canje Bridge, by cops acting on information. He had gone into hiding since Saturday after a villager in Hampshire discovered the gruesome remains of a female stuffed in a blue barrel and dumped in a trench near the R&S Street, Hampshire Corentyne.

Suraj Veerasammy

The body was already in an advanced state of decomposition, and had a bed sheet tied around the neck. The corpse was later identified as Devika Narainedat, Veerasammy’s girlfriend for over five months.
It was under intense questioning by investigating ranks that Veerasammy cracked under pressure and confessed to the murder. He told police that he and “Vanessa” had an argument on Wednesday over her decision to leave him; he became angered and assaulted her before tying a bed sheet to a rafter in their one-storey wooden rented home and hanging her.
He said he then cut her body down hours later (when it was dark) and dumped it in a blue barrel they had in the house, he then mounted it on his bicycle to discard of it, but his bicycle wheel got punctured and he decided to instead roll the barrel in the trench located just a street away from the home he shared with her.
It was not until Saturday that the villager – a Cane Harvester who residence is opposite the trench – along with other neighbours began to smell the foul stench. The man decided to check, and it was then that he discovered a foot protruding from the barrel in the trench. The police were immediately contacted and an investigation was launched.
Veerasammy had told police that he was in prison and after being released he was staying at the Dharm Shala. It was there he met the woman. They subsequently found a place to rent in Belvedere on the Corentyne.