Body at Leguan: Woman took taxi to Pegasus after dropped off at airport

Roma Dookeran, the overseas-based Guyanese woman, whose body was found at the Leguan foreshore one week ago after she was dropped off at the airport to return to Canada, in fact never checked in for her flight.

Instead, CCTV footage seen by the News Room shows that after she was dropped off at the airport, she was seen boarding a taxi.

The taxi, the News Room understands, dropped the woman off at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown.

Dookeran, 68, was a retired manager and lived in Canada. She was reportedly in Guyana to transact business and reportedly stayed at Perth village on the Essequibo Coast.

Two Tuesdays ago, her nephew dropped her off at the airport, reportedly to board an American Airlines flight to New York and then presumably to board a flight from there to Canada.

At the airport, the CCTV footage shows her exiting a car driven by her nephew; they hugged and he pats her on the head. She waves and blows him kisses and the car drives off. The woman did not have any suitcases, just a bag in her hand.

Instead of proceeding inside the airport to the departure lounge to check-in, she proceeds to the arrivals area and boards an official airport taxi. That taxi, the News Room understands, dropped her off at the Pegasus Hotel.

Her whereabouts after that are unclear at this time, but three mornings later, last Friday, her semi-nude body was discovered at around 08:00 hrs on the foreshore of the island of Leguan in the Essequibo River.

According to Police Headquarters, the woman’s nephews, Manoj Seree, a 45-year-old driver from Essequibo Coast and Baishan Lall Kuarlall, a 45-year-old Medical Doctor of Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, positively identified the body when it washed up.

An autopsy on Friday determined that the woman died from brain hemorrhage due to blunt trauma to the head and compression to the neck.

Police Commander of Region Three, Mahendra Sewnarine told the News Room on Friday that the Police are now treating Dookeran’s death as a murder but no arrests have so far been made.