Two months on, murder suspect remains patient in psychiatric ward

Almost two months after Agatha Gamell was gruesomely murdered by her granddaughter, the investigation remains open.

Agatha was found battered with her throat slit, her hair cut off and salt around her body on November 27, 2022, in her Charity, Essequibo Coast home.

Her granddaughter, 22-year-old Stephanie Gamell is accused of the murder and remains hospitalised at the psychiatric ward of the Georgetown Public Hospital.

On Tuesday, Region Two Commander Khemraj Shivbaran told the News Room that Stephanie is “recovering well and responding to treatment.”

“We cannot continue with the investigation until they give the green light that she is okay. The matter is still open and under investigation,” the Commander related.

At the time of the murder Stephanie had recently given birth to her first child and relatives say she has been grappling with post-partum depression.

In the wee hours of November 27, 2022, the young mother went berserk and murdered her grandmother and then wandered over to a neighbour and attempted to hand over her one-month-old baby, claiming the child was dead.

Agatha was found dead 15 minutes after neighbours heard her screaming.

Agatha’s daughter, Simone Gamell, had told the News Room that the night before, the young woman rubbed salt all over her mother’s skin and plastered her face with lime.

Simone said the teacher started acting strangely just after giving birth to her first child and detailed that she was extremely jealous of anyone touching the infant and accused family members of trying to take her baby away from her.

A day before the incident, the teacher also accused her husband of being unfaithful and left for her grandmother’s house.

Following this incident, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony disclosed that health professionals will soon be trained to diagnose and treat women with prenatal and postpartum depression.