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Death of ‘Aunty Betty’: Neighbour now says he was contracted to kill but did not stab her
Kaieteur News – Mohamed Ramzan Shaheed, the man accused of colluding with Roshanie Basdeo to kill 85-year-old Sumintra Sawh called ‘Aunty Betty’ has told Investigators that he was contracted to kill the elderly woman but denied stabbing her.
He had initially denied being involved in Sawh’s murder. However, on Monday he reportedly told Investigators that he beat her with a piece of wood.
Arrested: Ramzan Shaheed
Sawh’s battered body was found a week ago with stab wounds and head injuries lying in a blood soaked bed at her Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice (WCB) home. An autopsy has since revealed that Sawh was stabbed seven times and sustained a fractured skull.
Her 37-year-old Great Niece and Care Giver, Roshanie Basdeo called “Mala”, has been remanded to jail pending a trial. Despite Basdeo’s confession, Police continued their hunt for Shaheed called ‘Bhagee’, Sawh’s neighbour.
Upon his arrest, Shaheed provided police with an alibi.
Shaheed reportedly admitted to striking the elderly woman several times to her head with a piece of wood he had found in her yard. After battering the woman, he said he left and as such has no knowledge of her stabbing.
He reportedly told Investigators that he was contracted to kill Sawh so that her Great Niece could gain ownership of her house. The man reportedly told police that the plan to kill the woman was made two Wednesdays ago.
He was allegedly told to ”get rid of Aunty Betty first” and then he would get paid. To execute the plan, the man said he started by consuming white rum on his verandah and at around midnight he ventured to Sawh’s house where he picked up the wood and entered the house through the door that was left open for him.
Murdered: Sumintra Sawh aka ‘Aunty Betty’
Shaheed said that entered Sawh’s room and dealt her several lashes to her head until the elderly woman started groaned with pain. He threw the wood into the hallway and before leaving the victim’s home.
The man alleged that he went home and continued drinking before retiring to bed. Around 04:00hrs, he was awoken to screams of “Thief! Thief!” coming from Sawh’s Great Niece. According to Shaheed, he subsequently got up, took a bath, shaved, locked up his house and left the area on his bicycle.
He was arrested Monday on his return to Bushlot Village on Saturday.
Aunty Betty’s Great Niece, Basdeo, was the first to be arrested for her murder. Basdeo had initially told Investigators that two men wearing dark clothing and armed with knives, entered the home, tied her up, killed Sawh and stole $350,000.
Basdeo then changed her story and instead claimed that she was part of a plan to rob and kill the Bust Lot Pensioner. Her story changed a third time when she told cops that she had murdered her Great Aunt alone. She claimed that she had battered the woman to death with a hammer and wood and then discarded them in a pit latrine.
Cops reportedly recovered the suspected murder weapons and a blood stained night gown.
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