(TRINIDAD NEWSDAY).-A 29-YEAR-OLD Guyanese woman and her male accomplice, 29, who were detained last Thursday in connection with the murder of engineer Andre Joachim, 69, were up to yesterday still in custody at the Gasparillo and Ste Madeleine Police Stations.

The female suspect, police said, has been living in Trinidad illegally for the past six years. 

Investigators told Newsday yesterday that the file has been sent to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and they are now awaiting directions on how to lay charges against the suspects. 

They were held last week Thursday on Henry Street, Port-of-Spain, police said. Police believe the suspects are a part of a large extortion ring. In the early hours of the morning June 29, Joachim of Fifth Street, Springland, Gasparillo was found gagged and bound in his bedroom, police reported. 

An autopsy performed by pathologist Dr Valery Alexandrov revealed that death was due to suffocation. Alexandrov found a bandanna stuffed into Joachim’s mouth which was covered with duct tape. 

Police had responded to a call made by a woman that Joachim was tied up and beaten during a robbery at his house. When officers arrived on the scene the female caller was not there. 

Investigations are continuing.