The fifteen-year-old relative of the Linden woman, Shonnette Dover, who was killed and buried in a shallow grave, was on Tuesday slapped with an accessory after the fact of murder charge.
Dead: Shonette Dover
The minor appeared at the Linden Magistrate’s Court.
She was not required to plead to the indictable charge and was remanded to a juvenile holding centre by the presiding Magistrate Wanda Fortune.
The teen was represented by lead attorney Dexter Todd and his two associates Dexter Smartt and Shareefah Parks.
The matter has been adjourned to May 28.
Following her arraignment, Todd said that though his team made a successful bail application on the teen’s behalf, she asked the court to remain in custody. Todd said that the teen had expressed fears of returning to the community.
“She said she has fears of returning to the same environment She didn’t say home, she said environment… so we don’t know where the fears are, whether she fears the family, the boy, or if she’s afraid of his friends. So, we didn’t want to take chances since she didn’t feel comfortable returning,” he told this publication.
In light of the teen’s concerns, the attorney explained that the juvenile holding centre was the best option available to her.
Wanted: Shaquawn Alleyne
“The Magistrate did ask probation officers if we had witness facilities, but we don’t… so the safest place the Magistrate could’ve guaranteed her protection was at the juvenile centre,” Todd explained.
Moreover, the attorney told Guyana Times that arrangements have been made for probation officers to meet with the teen’s family to discuss safer housing for her.
Meanwhile, the father of the wanted suspect, Shaquawn Alleyne, who was arrested following the discovery of Dover’s body, has been released from Police custody.
The father was arrested on April 30 after Dover’s decomposed body was found buried in his son’s yard at Canvas City, Wismar, Linden. This publication was told on Tuesday that while the murder suspect’s father was informed of the murder, he was not present when the woman was killed or buried.
As such, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) recommended that the teen be charged but no charges were recommended for the father. Instead, the DPP advised that the Police continue with their investigations.
On Friday last, Police said that the teen had led them to a shallow grave where the missing woman’s remains were buried after confessing to being at the scene of the crime when Dover died on April 3.
In giving a detailed account of what took place, the teenager had told the Police in the presence of a Child Care and Probation Officer that on April 3, 2021, her sister was shot by her 19-year-old boyfriend Shaquawn Alleyne when he was “oiling his brownish gun in their living room”.
She explained that after the incident, they visited Alleyne’s father and told him of what had occurred. Soon after, she admitted that they collected a spade from someone and dug a hole aback the house where the victim was buried after which the boyfriend hid the gun in a tree.
Following the discovery, the teen and Alleyne’s father were held in Police custody. Based on advice from the DPP, the teen was charged on Tuesday. A post-mortem found that Dover died as a result of a single gunshot injury to the head.
Nineteen-year-old Alleyne remains at large as Police continue their hunt for him.
