Mother of 3 remanded for murdering 85-y-o great-aunt
– confesses to murdering elderly woman
Roshnie Basdeo, a 37-year-old mother of three has been remanded to prison for the brutal murder of her great-aunt, 85-year-old Sumintra Sawh, called “Aunty Betty”.
Basdeo also called “Mala”, who was unrepresented, appeared before Magistrate Peter Hugh at the Weldaad Magistrate’s Court, where she was not required to plead.
Murder suspect: Roshnie Basdeo, also called “Mala”
The woman was remanded to prison and the matter was adjourned to December 14 at the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court. The case has been transferred to the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court and will come up again on December 14.
It was reported that Sawh’s body was found lying motionlessly in a pool of blood on her bed following a home invasion.
Murdered: Sumintra Sawh, called “Aunty Betty”
Police said the woman’s great-niece claimed that she was awakened by a male who was in her room and who had a knife to her throat, demanding money. She had also claimed that she was pulled out of her bedroom and saw a second stranger in the house. She also told Police that she was placed in a chair and bound to it with a piece of ‘sling’.
However, under intense interrogation, the woman broke down and confessed to being part of the plan to rob her aunt of the $350,000 cash she had in the house.
She told detectives that on November 27, 2022, the now dead woman had accused her of stealing money and other documents but she had attempted to convince the woman that she did not.
Nevertheless, Sawh continued to accuse her throughout the night. At that point in time, she became annoyed and took a hammer and a piece of wood and dealt the woman several lashes to her head while she was on her bed, thus leaving her motionless.
She then went into the lower flat of the house and took a razor blade which she used to cause self-inflicted injuries to her neck and hand.
Basdeo added that her nightdress was drenched in blood, so she took it off and placed in a black plastic bag along with the hammer she used to commit the murder. She then disposed of them in a pit toilet in the yard.
She further admitted that she alone was involved in the killing of Sawh.
Meanwhile, Basdeo took investigators back to the scene where the hammer and a blood-stained nightdress were retrieved, along with a razor blade in the lower flat of the house.
