Saba homicide suspect to appear in court April 13

The 31-year-old man, suspected of involvement in the homicide of a 24-year-old student at Saba University School of Medicine (SUSOM) on April 15, 2015, will appear at the Court of First Instance in Bonaire on April 13 for a so-called pro forma hearing, the Prosecutor’s Office stated.

Suspect S.C. was arrested in Arnold, Missouri, in the United States on August 17, 2016. The former SUSOM student was arrested at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. S.C. is a resident of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who was residing legally in the United States.

The investigations in the so-called “Hector” case started after the lifeless body of student Kavya Lekha Guda, originally from California, was found in her apartment in The Bottom.

The investigations were carried out by Police Force Caribbean Netherlands KPCN, in close cooperation with the Dutch National Police, the Royal Dutch Marechaussee, and the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), as well as with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States.

In August last year, the Prosecutor’s Office said it had “sufficiently strong suspicions” against the suspect. The arrest warrant cited charges of murder, rape, child porn, slander and defamation, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said.

The extradition documents said that C., Guda and others left a “nightclub” early that morning. C. took another woman home, made “unwelcome advances” to her, then returned to Guda’s home, where he strangled her with the sleeve of his jacket, the documents claim as cited by St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The documents say C.’s DNA matches evidence found on Guda’s body. They also say that C. left Saba “seemingly in a hurry” on May 20, 2015, leaving behind clothes and a suitcase.

Investigators also found 9,258 images containing child porn on his computer, according to St. Louis Post- Dispatch.

C has not yet been formally indicted. The Prosecutor’s Office said after C.’s extradition to Bonaire, where he is currently detained, that he is suspected of having killed Guda. He is also suspected of rape, threats, and possession of child pornography.

The Court is expected to set a date for trial during the April hearing. The suspect is to remain in pre-trial detention.

The Daily Herald.