Matthew Munroe, the car driver who was implicated in the brutal murder of former Richard Ishmael Secondary School teacher, Kescia Branche remains in Police custody and is being interrogated by homicide detectives.
Dead: Kescia Branche
The wanted man was arrested last week upon his return to Guyana from the United States. According to acting Crime Chief Paul Williams, the Police was granted an extension to further detain the suspect after an application was made to the High Court.
Williams further stated that the Police will continue to work with the leads at their disposal to crack the case. Presently, he noted that although those who were initially arrested, including the father of Branche’s child, are still being asked to return to the Police station at specified times.
With respect to Munroe, the Police, he added, will continue to question him based on the fact that he has been giving the Police conflicting accounts about his whereabouts on the night the teacher was brutally battered and dumped.
He maintained however, that the case is a sensitive one and detectives are proceeding with caution.
Nevertheless, Williams had expressed unease by the countless discussions that continue to take place in the public domain. He has said that persons need to “wait for the final nail or hammer,” and until someone is criminally charged and appears before the court, people should refrain from casting judgement.
Branche, a mother of one and a teacher at the Richard Ishmael Secondary School, was on November 5, 2017, found next to a coconut tree along Cemetery Road from Louisa Row, Georgetown, obliquely opposite the cemetery office. Two days after, she succumbed to her injuries at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
The 22-year-old woman had sustained head injuries and a broken foot. It has also been reported that relatives of the deceased woman were told by doctors that the head injuries appeared to be consistent with blows to the head. A post-mortem examination later confirmed the initial assessment.
Three suspects who were being questioned regarding the death of Branche were released. The father of Branche’s son was released on station bail along with the two Police Constables. The two Policemen were placed on open arrest and will be working out of the Tactical Services Unit (TSU).
Meanwhile, investigators are working on the theory that the driver may have been the last person to see the teacher alive. He reportedly left the country on the morning the teacher was found.
