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Man charged for murder of Venezuelan cook and Bartica woman
Kaieteur News – The man who confessed to the murders of a female Venezuelan cook and a Bartica woman was yesterday charged and remanded to prison. Joshua Connell, 27, of 152 South Vryhied’s Lust, East Coast Demerara appeared at the Bartica Magistrate Court where he was charged with two counts murder contrary to common law by Magistrate, Crystal Lambert.
Murder Accused: Joshua Connell
It is alleged that on October 4, 2020, Connell raped and killed a Venezuelan national, Dimas Emilia Lezama Fermin, 28, of San Felix, Ciudad Guayana, Estado Bolivar at Big Hope Backdam, Cuyuni, Region Seven. Also in May 2020, the defendant allegedly murdered Rosella Smith, 28, of Bamford Point, Bartica, at Three Miles Karrau Backdam, Mazaruni.
Connell was not required to plea to the indictable charges and will make another court appearance on December 17, 2020.
Murdered: Rosella Smith
According to reports, Connell confessed to raping and strangling Lezama at her camp before throwing her body into a mining pit aback the said camp. Connell was reportedly employed with a dredge owner identified as Lezama’s lover.
The night before her half-nude body was found with its underwear missing, the dredge owner along with Connell and other miners had left the woman alone in the camp cooking. The men headed to Big Hope landing to drink rum but during the drinking session, Connell got up and left. He told his boss that he was going to the camp to take a bath.
Connell while in custody had told investigators that he had ingested a pill at the campsite which made him ‘delirious’. He did not specify what kind of pill but it is speculated by detectives that it might have been a recreational drug. Connell continued his confession by detailing that he asked the woman for sex but she refused which led to him raping and murdering her.
Lezama’s case resembled that of another woman, Rosella Smith, whose corpse was discovered on May 15, by a 23-year-old miner, floating in an abandoned mining pit at Karrau Backdam. The address and description of the prime suspect in Smith’s murder also matched that of Connell’s.
Questioned about her death, Connell admitted to killing her in a similar way as well.
In the early stages of the investigations. it was believed that Smith might have been raped too. Pathologist Nehaul Singh, however, found no evidence to support the theory of her being raped. Nonetheless, it was revealed in the autopsy that she was manually strangled and submerged under water. According to police, Connell stated that he killed Smith over some raw gold, which she allegedly stole from him. He claimed that they had gotten an argument and he choked her to death.
Smith’s body was found not far away from camp, which crime scene experts noted was ransacked. Based on information received, detectives were able to identify a prime suspect called ‘Black Boy’. He was one of two men who were last seen chatting with Smith prior to her demise. It was also learnt that Black Boy was seen leaving Karrau Backdam mere hours before her body was found. Police later received information that he is from East Coast Demerara and had turned up at his home but never found him.
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