Sergeant freed of ex-girlfriend’s murder after prosecution fails to prove its case

Former Police Sergeant Colin Bailey was on Wednesday freed of a charge that he carried out the 2013 murder of his ex-girlfriend Sirmattie Ramnaress after the State failed to present witnesses to pin him to the crime.

Ramnaress, a businesswoman, was found dead in the lower flat of her home with stab wounds about her body. Another man named Colin Grant has claimed he was paid by the Police Sergeant to commit the murder.

But the prosecution could not prove that the Police Sergeant was connected to the murder.

“He [Bailey] should not have been before the court… this is a waste of judicial time,” Justice Jo-Ann Barlow said in making her decision at the Demerara High Court where Bailey was on trial for the capital offence of murder.

The Police had claimed that sometime between August 30-31, 2013, Bailey murdered Ramnaress called “Sabo” at her Diamond, East Bank Demerara home.

During the trial hearing on Wednesday, Prosecutor Sarah Martin was expected to call three more witnesses. But when questioned by the Judge, she agreed that none of the other witnesses would present evidence linking Bailey to the crime.

As a result, Bailey’s attorney Nigel Hughes asked for the case to be dismissed since his client had no case to answer. The judge said that no charge should have been laid by the State against Bailey if there was no evidence and she instructed the jury to return a not guilty verdict.

Grant, who claimed he carried out the murder for money, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Tuesday and will be sentenced on November 2, 2021.