Former police sergeant Colin Bailey, who allegedly paid to have his ex-girlfriend, Sirmattie Ramnaress killed in 2013, and the alleged hitman, on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to the crime.
Bailey and Colin Grant were arraigned at the Demerara High Court before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow for the capital offence of murder; they denied that between August 30 and 31, 2013, they murdered Ramnaress called ‘Sabo’ – a businesswoman – at her Diamond, East Bank Demerara house.
A jury was empanelled to hear the case on October 12; the State is represented by prosecutors Latifah Elliot, Sarah Martin and Nafeeza Baig while the defendants are represented by attorneys-at-law Dexter Todd and Nigel Hughes and his associates.
In 2013, Ramnaress was found dead in her house and it was suspected that she might have been murdered by persons close to her. The 36-year-old was found in the lower flat of her posh home by an employee who turned up for work.
The body bore stab wounds, her house was ransacked and the lower flat drenched with diesel but not set afire.
Police could not locate the footage for the cameras which were situated all around the woman’s house. The police had initially expressed interest in Bailey, who was a serving policeman at the time of her death.
The Police Force re-opened the case in 2015 and arrested Grant, who allegedly claimed that he was paid by Bailey to kill the woman and to remove the device that stored her surveillance footage. Bailey was subsequently arrested and charged jointly with Grant for the capital offence.
