Former Police Sergeant Colin Bailey was on Wednesday acquitted of the August 2013 murder of his reputed wife Surmattie Ramnaress, after State prosecutors conceded that there was no evidence against him. As such, trial judge Jo Ann Barlow directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
Confessed killer Colin Grant
Attorneys-at-law Nigel Hughes, Ronald Daniels and Konyo Sandiford appeared on Bailey’s behalf. On Tuesday, Bailey’s co-accused, Colin Grant, pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge in relation to the woman’s killing. He admitted that between August 30 and 31, 2013, at Demerara, he unlawfully killed Ramnaress, called ‘Kavita’. The confessed killer will be sentenced on November 2 at the Demerara High Court.
Dead: Surmattie Ramnaress
The lifeless body of 36-year-old Ramnaress, called “Savita”, was found at around 10:00h on August 31, 2013, at her Lot 2430, 21st Avenue, Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara home. Her throat had been slit, her head bashed in, and her hip disjointed. Moreover, sections of her property had been destroyed by fire. The bottom flat of the house had been completely drenched with kerosene, and the entire house had been ransacked, which suggested that the woman was robbed before she was killed. The perpetrators had also set alight a bond behind the house, and it was completely destroyed.
After the robbery, the killers escaped in one of the woman’s motor cars.
Recordings from the internal and external surveillance cameras were missing.
Ex-Police Sergeant Colin Bailey
From the inception, investigators believed the robbery might have been an inside job, since there was no sign of forced entry into the premises. The woman’s property was protected by a high, grilled fence and an alarm system, which according to neighbours did not go off during the night of the gruesome murder. (G1)
