Essequibo teacher remanded for grandmother’s murder

Feb 04, 2023 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Kaieteur News – Twenty-two-year-old Stephanie Gamell, a teacher of Lot 28 Richmond Village, Essequibo Coast, was on Friday remanded to prison for allegedly murdering her grandmother, Agatha Gamell, two months ago.

The teacher appeared virtually before Magistrate Esther Sam at the Suddie Magistrates’ Court for the capital offence.

Dead: Agatha Gamell

Remanded: Stephanie Gamell

She was not required to plead to the indictable charge which alleges that between November 26 and 27, 2022, at Charity Housing Scheme, Essequibo Coast, she murdered her 75-year-old grandmother.

Magistrate Sam remanded the accused to prison and the matter was adjourned to February 27, 2023 for disclosure of statements. The matter was also transferred to the Charity Magistrates’ Court.

According to reports, the elderly woman was brutally murdered in her Charity home, where she usually resides alone. A neighbour recalled hearing loud screams and sounds of a crying baby coming from the woman’s home on the morning of November 27, 2022.

It was stated that the noise reportedly lasted about 15 minutes before it suddenly went silent. Sometime later, the teacher reportedly turned up at the neighbour’s home and knocked on her door.

The woman recalled that the teacher’s hands were bloodied and she was holding a naked baby in her arms. She allegedly told the neighbour that her baby had just died and attempted to give her the child, but the woman refused and the teacher walked out of the yard and disappeared into the streets.

Realizing that something was amiss, the neighbour notified the police of her encounter with the teacher and the screams she heard earlier coming from Gamell’s home. Investigators visited Gamell’s residence where they found her dead.

According to police, Gamell’s bloodied remains were found lying face down on her kitchen floor. There were large gaping wounds to the back of her neck and another to the right side of her head. Some of her hair appeared to be cut off and was found next to her body. Detectives also found a blood-stained scissors on top a gas stove and suspected that could be the weapon used to kill Gamell.