POLICE
yesterday charged three persons with the murder of the 55-year-old woman who was beaten to
death in the ‘Ole Higue’ saga at Bare Root, East Coast Demerara last
week
The accused, 41-year-old contractor Roland Spencer also known
as ‘Brother,’ of Lot 87 Haslington; Rayon Bobb, 28, a cane cutter,
of Lot 275 Bare Root and Alita Roberts, 25, of the same village,
appeared before Magistrate Yohannse Cave yesterday, at Sparendaam
Court, also on the East Coast.
It
is alleged that they killed Radika Singh called ‘Chan’ on April 28
and were
remanded to prison until May 10 when they would make another
appearance at Vigilance Court, in the same magisterial
district.
Singh, a psychiatric patient, of Lot 713 Phase One, Good
Hope, another East Coast Demerara village, was fatally beaten
because Bare Root residents believed she was an ‘Ole Higue’, a
mythical woman which sucks the blood of human babies.
Her brutalised, bloodied body was found at the roadside in
Bare Root last Saturday morning after she had, again, wandered away
from home.
Police said a post mortem examination showed she died from
haemorrhage due to blunt trauma to the head.
Victim in 'Ole Higue'
saga to be buried
today
GRIEVING husband Ram
Singh yesterday
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MENTALLY
challenged Radika Singh, 55, of
Lot 713 Phase One, Good Hope, East Coast Demerara, beaten to death
last week after residents in another village claimed she was an `Ole
Higue’ seeking blood of little children, is to be buried
today.
Relatives and neighbours yesterday said she was depressed but
very quiet.
She had been depressed for years and for two years lived with
her sister at Lot 105 Mon Repos, also on the East Coast
Demerara.
They said she returned home to her husband and 19-year-old
son, Mahendra, when her mental condition improved.
The woman frequented the Mon Repos Market and surrounding
area where she was well-known, they said.
She was beaten back of Bare Root, another East Coast village,
Saturday last by residents when an alarm was raised that she was an
`Ole Higue’, a woman those who believe in superstition claim lives
on sucking blood of babies and little children.
Relatives said Singh joined the Psychiatric Clinic of the
Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation last year and was on
medication but would sometimes forget to take them.
As
a result, they said, she would wander off but would always be
returned home by villagers and people who knew her.
At
their home yesterday, her husband, Ram Singh, 51, could still barely
contain his grief and was being comforted by scores of neighbours,
gathered to help with the wake and prepare for today’s
funeral.
Her husband said he could not believe that persons took her
for an `Ole Higue’ and killed her because she was gentle, kept to
herself and would never quarrel.
Police said a post mortem examination showed the woman died
as a result of haemorrhage due to blunt trauma to the
head.
Singh left home Friday but relatives only learnt of her
demise on Sunday after looking for her in several villages she
frequented.