GDF rank arraigned for murder of Berbice hairdresser

A serving member of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) was on Tuesday remanded to prison for the murder of 29-year-old Donalesa Park, a hairdresser of Number Two Village, East Canje, Berbice.

Thirty-two-year-old Collin Hazel appeared before Magistrate Renita Singh at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court where he was not required to plead to the indictable charge which stated that between June 29 and 30, he murdered Park.
As such, he was remanded to prison until August 23, and the matter was transferred to the Albion Magistrate’s Court. Park’s body was found stuffed in a garbage bag and dumped on an empty plot of land along the No 2 Village Public Road – one day after she went missing.
It was reported that the mother of one had left her home on June 29 at about 08:00h to plait a client’s hair, but never showed up. The following morning, relatives became worried and started to call friends and other relatives to enquire about her whereabouts.

The woman’s body was then discovered at about 07:00h wrapped in plastic. However, following the discovery, CCTV footage showed the victim entering the suspect’s house, hours before her body was found at a location in close proximity to the house.
Additionally, an umbrella that Park left her house with was found in the suspect’s bedroom. A post-mortem performed on the body proved that the woman was manually strangled to death. From reports received, the suspect used the hairdresser’s head tie to commit the murder.
Park lived with the father of her five-year-old son and was reportedly having an affair with the suspect.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum on Saturday stated that while the soldier did not admit to killing Park, he told investigators that he will “live with the consequences” of his action and “whatever will be, will be”.
Meanwhile, investigators have confirmed that the last person to see the woman alive was the suspect’s sister, who admitted to detectives that she saw Park being physically assaulted by the suspect.

Following the discovery, an uncle, Mortimer Amsterdam, explained that his niece had been in the hairdressing business for about 15 years. He said he had received a telephone call from his sister, who told him that her daughter had not been seen since Wednesday morning when she had left the house. In addition, calls to her cell phone went unanswered for a short period, and the phone was later turned off.
He noted that the woman would conduct business with a serving member of the Guyana Defence Force, and she might have gone to collect the items.
“He does normally bring detergent for Donalesa from Lethem…so she went to collect the stuff, and since then they ain’t see she back…,” Amsterdam added.
The aggrieved uncle further stated that they were home when they received information that the woman’s body was found along the Corentyne.