A 38-year-old miner was on Tuesday remanded to prison by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts slapped with a murder charge.
James Allen, of Two Friends Village, East Coast Demerara (ECD), was not required to plead to the indictable charge.
The Court heard that between June 28, 2018, and July 8, 2018, at Thomas Island, Bartica, Allen murdered his ex-lover, Petal Hafez.
According to facts presented, the woman’s skeletal remains were recently discovered along a trail in Bartica, Puruni River, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
He was remanded to prison, and the matter was transferred to the Bartica Magistrate’s Court for August 16, 2018.
On Saturday last, Police exhumed the remains believed to be Hafez’s to facilitate a post-mortem.
According to Pathologist Nehaul Singh, he was unable to determine the cause of death, but noted a crack in the skull. As such, Dr Singh’s findings were inconclusive.
Speaking with Guyana Times International on Monday last, Hafez’s daughter explained that her mother left home about the second week in May for Thomas Island, Puruni and they last heard from her on June 2, 2018.
After the discovery on July 8, 2018, the Police arrested Allen in connection with the murder. The man was allegedly arrested based on his history of reportedly abusing women in several interior locations.
The badly decomposed body was found in a shallow grave. A bag containing the woman’s clothes was found close to the body, but there was no form of identification.
It was reported that a security personnel stumbled upon the remains while heading to an Internet café to make a telephone call. He reported the findings to the Police a few days later. As such, a party of Police ranks were dispatched to the scene to conduct preliminary investigations.
Owing to the state of the remains– clad only in a brassiere with some remnants of flesh, identification was not possible.
On this note, the grieving daughter noted that samples of the remains were sent overseas to determine the identity of the deceased. She is positive the remains are those of her mother.
