– mentally-ill son was reportedly living with corpse
The decomposed body of an elderly woman was on Sunday found in her home at Johanna, Black Bush Polder, Berbice, and it has since been revealed that her mentally-ill son had been living in the house for the past few days without reporting his mother was dead.
Dead: Cecilia Ramsook
Police stated that 60-year-old Cecilia Ramsook, called “Sisto” of Lot 41 Johanna North, Black Bush Polder, Corentyne, Berbice, was discovered dead by neighbours who then contacted the Police.
She was reportedly last seen alive on May 9 at a ‘wake house’ at Mibicuri. Upon the discovery, the body was checked for marks of violence, but according to the Police, the advanced stage of decomposition made this impossible to determine.
Police, in a statement, said the woman had been consuming alcohol and that she suffered from high blood pressure.
Parbattie Diyal was one of the last women who saw Ramsook alive. She recalled that on the evening of the wake, Ramsook was lagging behind as they were heading home and upon enquiring, was told that she was not feeling well.
“By the time we walk and meet by the street, they get a lady living there and she stop there. So I tell her to sit down and rest and when you rest enough you can come.”
She said that was the last time she saw her neighbour alive.
Meanwhile, a neighbour told Guyana Times that while concerns mounted over the whereabouts of Ramsook, a foul stench wound through the community.
According to Babewattie Ravindranauth, she thought it might have been a small animal which one of her dogs killed in the yard. However, after her granddaughter searched the yard and did not find anything, she realised the stench was coming from the opposite side of the road where Ramsook lived.
Ravindranauth said it was the woman’s mentally-ill son, who is in his 30s, who eventually revealed to neighbours that the woman was dead.
According to the woman, she had enquired from Romsook’s son about the whereabouts of his mother and was told that she had gone to visit his sister.
“But yesterday [Sunday] morning a boy was passing and he tell the boy that “Sisto” dead and in the house. So the boy come and tell me so I tell him ‘you mad just like “Cook-up”’. After I come into the house I decide to go over because is a few days since I didn’t see the old lady. I call the girl living next door and tell her for us to go.”
The house in which the woman’s body was found
She said she eventually persuaded her neighbour to accompany her to Ramsook’s house.
“When we meet halfway, she run and go and by the time I meet at the house she meet upstairs and come dawn back and she tell me not to go because I would fall down,” she related.
Family members subsequently contacted the Police but by the time they arrived at the scene, the Police were already there and had cordoned off the area.
An autopsy is expected to be conducted on the body on Wednesday. “Sisto” was the mother to five children, including the mentally-ill son. (Andrew Carmichael)
