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Robbers
strangle widow
dead
A SIXTY-three-year-old widow of Grove, East Bank Demerara, was found dead in her bed early yesterday morning after two men reportedly broke into the house. Neighbours
said it appeared that Leila Avatar was strangled in her bed at Lot 200
Grove Housing Scheme. They
said her body was found lying across her bed, clad only in her
underwear. Her hands and feet were bound and her mouth gagged. Blood was also visible on her upper body.
Neighbours
said they went into the house at around 06:30 hours yesterday and made
the startling discovery after two children from the neighbourhood, who
usually kept her company at night, raised an alarm. Ten-year-old
Reshma and her brother Latish, eight, were in the house when the men
broke in.
Others
said they heard nothing strange in the house to suggest that something
was amiss during the night. The
motive for the murder appears to be robbery since residents said that
Avatar received money from a money transfer agency the previous day. According
to neighbours, the two men entered the house by prising open a window
on the lower flat of the two-storeyed building. After
entering the house, the men climbed the inside stairs and went into
her bedroom through the open door. The
window through which the men got into the house is the only one on the
lower flat without bars. Neighbours
said the men fled through the back of the yard. They
said Avatar had been living alone since her husband passed away and
she had no children. The
two children who were staying with her Monday night, were awakened
when someone sprinkled water in their faces, but they were not hurt
during the robbery. Latish
said the only thing he remembered was "someone screaming". As
the hearse bearing the body left the yard, family members began crying
uncontrollably. Many neighbours told this newspaper that the widow was always quiet and polite to everyone and was always in her house around 19:00 hours.
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