A High Court judge denounced an 81-year-old grandfather who, for a decade, deceived his family and the police about the whereabouts of his 12-year-old granddaughter, left for dead with a knife in her belly and whose body he later dumped over a ledge. Photo: Barbados Today

Winfield Nurse was the “only person who knew what really happened to [Rasheeda Bascombe]”, in a cover-up that was “absolutely reprehensible”, Justice Donna Babb-Agard said as she sentenced him on Tuesday.

Twenty-four years after Bascombe went missing, Nurse, of Accommodation Road, Bush Hall, was formally sentenced to 13 years in prison for unlawfully disposing of her body sometime between January 2, 2002, and May 30, 2013. But Nurse will serve two years and 24 days after spending almost a decade on remand.

The judge said: “You knew that she was, in fact, dead, yet you kept that chilling secret from your immediate family, which included your now-deceased adult daughter, Hermina Straker, who was Rasheeda’s mother, and her siblings for 11 years. As a result, this case remained a cold case in the files of the Royal Barbados Police Force until your confession in 2013.”

The judge took serious note of the conflicting reports made by Nurse to the police throughout the years in his efforts to conceal his actions, including that his granddaughter used to frequent “unsavoury places”, and that she had informed him that she was going overseas, along with his pretence of searching for her, and his sticking a picture of her up in the house.

She continued: “It is clear from the evidence, in fact, from your own confessions during police investigations, that you deliberately and intentionally concealed the fact that your granddaughter sustained a stab wound to her belly, according to you, with a knife you claimed she was carrying. It is also evidence that once she was injured, you failed to offer any assistance, you failed to run for help, you failed to call an ambulance, you failed to call the police, you failed to call anybody in sight on that night, you failed to call anybody while you were in the area, or while you were leaving.

“You left your 12-year-old injured granddaughter with a knife in her belly, and you went home and faced your grieving, frantic daughter, Hermena Straker and your other granddaughters, Raquel and Rhonda, and said not one word. You returned a day later to find her dead body in the same place you left it, and without so much as a thought or compassion for your own flesh and blood, you shoved her dead body down the hill, returned home and went on with your life.

“You would spend months, years, pretending to search for her and continue to live, except for the times that you were remanded to custody, in the same space as your grieving family members. You did this over an extended period without informing anyone as to what happened, until your confession to the police.

“By your own admission, over time, police kept questioning you about her whereabouts, and you continued to tell them you didn’t know where she was, until you confessed. Your daughter, Hermena Straker, died before she could see her daughter get justice in this manner. You robbed your own family of the opportunity of proper closure and burial of Rasheeda’s body.”

She noted that while Nurse’s initial murder charge was dropped, he was later charged with the unlawful disposal of a dead body as the police determined that they had sufficient evidence to pursue prosecution in the High Court.

The aggravating features of the crime overwhelmingly exceeded the mitigating features, said the judge. Nurse was well aware of what he did, was focused always on himself by seeking to conceal his actions rather than to try to save his granddaughter, returned to the scene to dispose of her body, and maligned the dead girl’s character by stating that she frequented unsavoury places, all while continuing to deceive his family through the years.

Justice Babb-Agard continued: “You put your family through unimaginable trauma as they continued to search for her, holding out hope that she was still alive. You brought immeasurable grief, especially to the female members of your family, by your actions while you coexisted with them in the same household. Your conduct and profound disregard for your granddaughter and the rest of your family is to be denounced by this court and by the society in which you live.”

Pointing out that “up until today, while Bascombe’s body has not been positively identified”, the judge highlighted that the authorities made clear that the offence of unlawful disposal of a corpse does not require a body to be found, so long as the prosecution proves the relevant factors and the offender’s intent.

Saying that the offence often carried a five to seven year starting point, the judge stated that this was an “exceptional” case due to Nurse’s conduct, arguing that the law allows for higher sentences to be imposed where it was found that the act is designed to obstruct justice, conceal criminal conduct, prevent detection of a crime or frustrate investigators.

She reached a 13-year starting sentence, before deducting one year for his confession of the crime, noting that without it, no one would have known what had happened to Bascombe, and her family would have been left without closure.

No time would be credited for delay, as this “was entirely the product of your own sustaining concealment”, Justice Babb-Agard said.

She then discounted the 3 626 days he spent on remand and ordered him to serve the remaining two years and 24 days at Dodds Prison.

Speaking directly to Bascombe’s sisters, who were present in court, the judge hoped the end of the case would bring closure.

“It is the hope of this court that even after all these years, you and the rest of your family members can finally have closure,” Justice Babb-Agard said. “This court therefore extends its best wishes to you and your family.”

During the trial, police said that Nurse had written a confession that three months after Bascombe did not return home, she had contacted him asking for $1 000. Nurse said he met her in Jackson, St Michael, where they went through a track, and he gave her $300, but she said it was not enough, pulled out a knife, and they began to scuffle, during which they both fell to the ground.

The statement read: “While me and she was scuffling, all two of we fall down, and all of a sudden, she stop struggling, and when I look, I see the knife sticking in she belly. I did so frighten, I didn’t even know what colour handle the knife had, but I could see the handle ‘pon she belly.

“I didn’t want nobody to see the blood on my clothes, so I walked and went straight home and went in the shed and pull off my clothes. I didn’t tell nobody what happened. This was a Friday. I remember because I did get pay. I went back up in Jackson, the same place that I left Rasheeda at the Sunday, and she did still the place which part I left she with the knife in she.

“I did not want nobody to find she, so I roll she over and over till she went over a little cliff. All that time, the knife was still in she. She did not swell up nor nothing so. When I roll she over the cliff, it was about 11 or a little before, but I did not see nobody when I roll she way.”