- in burglary at Uncle Eddie’s Home

-she had been sodomised, as her underwear was down to her legs.

By Shirley Thomas
A WOMAN security guard was murdered early yesterday morning during a burglary at Uncle Eddie’s Home for senior citizens, in Jackson Street, Tucville, Georgetown.

Her bound and gagged, lifeless body was discovered lying face down on the floor of the reception area in one of the buildings in the complex and it is suspected that she had been sodomised, as her underwear was down to her legs.

A white lace chairback with bloodstains was tightly tied around her mouth and neck, investigators said.

The section where the discovery was made had been ransacked and there were bloodstains on the floor and bloodstained pieces of toilet paper and a torchlight at the scene.

Reports said the burglars entered from the back when Coleridge was seated next to a window at the front of the building.

They apparently removed a television set, refrigerator and microwave oven from the dining room before venturing where the victim sat.

The complex comprised an expansive main structure and six smaller annexed units. It was in that big building, which houses the administrative office, kitchen, dining hall and several private dormitories that the murder took place.
Surviving occupants said, around 02:00h, they heard a commotion in the sitting room but the guard could not raise an alarm as her mouth had been stuffed with paper and a cushion covered her head.

A nurse on duty was awakened and she summoned Police, from the nearby East La Penitence station, who arrived promptly but the intruders had already fled.

When the Guyana Chronicle arrived at the crime scene, there was a heavy Police presence, including cops from fingerprint, homicide, photographic and other criminal investigations units conducting investigations.

One octogenarian, with tears streaming down her face, lamented the gruesome manner in which Coleridge met her demise.
ATTACKED
“She died to defend us; She died defending us,” the 80-year-old sighed, recalling that, months ago she was attacked with a pitchfork at the same place as she tried warding off bandits at the premises.

“She was so small built and died without even a gun to help herself…what a pity,” the old woman added.

Some others were critical of the fact that one unarmed female was on guard at such a large, poorly illuminated compound.

They called for more security lights to be installed at various points from which prowlers could enter.

According to them, thieves would wait until dark and push their hands through the grillwork on their bedroom windows and steal personal belongings.

Neighbours on the opposite side of the street said they heard nothing but, on rising about 05:00h, they saw the reception area at Uncle Eddie’s unusually brightly lit and a vehicle full of Police ranks in the yard before learning of the killing.

D’Oliveira said she, immediately, went to the location and subsequently, to RK’s Security Regent Street headquarters, in another part of the city, but did not get to see Roshan Khan.

On arriving at the home of the deceased, she heard that officials from the firm had visited to inform about the death.

D’Oliveira said she was even more saddened at the thought that her sister was posted at the site unarmed, without armed back-up and practically at the mercies of intruders, even though she was almost killed there some months ago.

At Uncle Eddie’s, D’Oliveira said she retrieved Coleridge’s bag which had been searched but still had her bank and identification cards and a tiny transistor radio.

But her money, a gold chain she wore and her cellular phone were missing.

In Queen Street, the dead woman’s only son, Roger Coleridge, 21, wearing a

t-shirt on which was emblazoned ‘Strength and Courage’, tried to cope with the pain of his mother’s loss but his anguish was evident.

A post mortem examination is to be performed on the deceased Friday.

Meanwhile, Administrator of Uncle Eddie’s Home, Mrs. Rita Mc Ewan confirmed that two men entered the building from one of the back doors which they managed to break open without being seen or heard.

The administrator said she was called up by the night aide, who claimed she was in the sick bay when she heard what appeared to be two men speaking in the building, and other sounds. At that stage, she reportedly advanced and called out for the guard on duty, but got no response.

It was reported that when the men heard her they fled, but by then the guard had already been killed.

It would appear the stolen items – a refrigerator, a 20 inch television set and a microwave oven, were fetched across a plot of bushes to an awaiting vehicle.

Stolen items – a refrigerator, a 20 inch television set and a microwave

But even with a new door being constructed and installed yesterday, and with plans for heightened security of the premises, there was a near crisis situation brewing at RK’s security firm as, since late yesterday afternoon, the company was unable to get a replacement for the guard murdered on the shift.

The Guyana Chronicle is reliably informed that ‘all the guards approached’ by RK Security firm “bluntly refused” to take over the post. Late yesterday, the administration of Uncle Eddie’s was in a quandary as to how to get security guards to oversee the premises for the night.

Meanwhile, the police in a statement late yesterday, said it is investigating the “suspected murder” of Coleridge, which occurred about 02:00h yesterday morning at the Uncle Eddie’s Home.

“Investigations so far revealed that an aide on duty at the institution heard noise in the building and upon checking, found the body of Simone Coleridge lying on the floor in the waiting area of the building. Her hands and feet were bound and her mouth gagged with a piece of cloth,” the Police said.

“A subsequent check revealed that a television set, a portable fridge and a micro-wave had been stolen. Investigations by the police led to the recovery of the stolen articles in an abandoned house within the Tucville area,” the Police added.