Murder of schoolteacher: State to call 43 witnesses as trial set to begin on September 15

State prosecutors will call some 43 witnesses to the stand when the trial of taxi driver Matthew Munroe, who is accused of the murder of schoolteacher Kescia Branche commences on September 15. A 12-member jury has already been empanelled to hear the case before Justice Sandil Kissoon at the High Court in Demerara. Munroe has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

He is accused of murdering the 23-year-old woman between November 5 and 7, 2017. The case for the prosecution is being led by State Counsel Seeta Bishundial, while Attorney-at-Law Dexter Todd is appearing for the murder accused. Munroe was first charged with the schoolteacher’s murder in December 2017 and has been on remand ever since.
After a Preliminary Inquiry (PI) which ended on October 16, 2018, Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman had ruled that sufficient evidence was led by the prosecution against Munroe for him to stand trial in the High Court for the capital offence.
Munroe had allegedly departed Guyana for the United States of America some time in November 2017, but after spending some time overseas, had returned to Guyana and presented himself to the Criminal Investigations Department Headquarters at Eve Leary, Georgetown.
The Police have said that during interrogation, Munroe could not provide information on his whereabouts on the night that the schoolteacher was killed, as well as a reason for his car bumper missing.

Branche, 23, a mother of one of Cummings Lodge, Greater Georgetown, was discovered lying at the corner of Princes Street and Louisa Row in Georgetown on November 5, 2017.
She was picked up in an unconscious state and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where she died two days later. Her cause of death was given as haemorrhage and blunt trauma to the head. According to reports, the young mother had left home for a night of partying. Her son was left in the care of a friend, who revealed that Branche had told her she had intended to go to a city nightclub to meet a male friend.
The teacher had later returned home but had subsequently left again.
She had told her friend that she would be home by 02:00h, but never returned. She was last seen leaving a nightclub on Lamaha Street in the company of two Police ranks.
The father of Branche’s child was also arrested after the teacher’s mobile phone was found in his possession. He and four Policemen were questioned about her death, but they were later released. (G1)