The body of a 24-year-old woman was yesterday found in the channel of the Nismes, West Bank Demerara koker, allegedly murdered at the hands of her `controlling’ husband who later ingested poison and fled.
Dead is Sunita August, a resident of Vauxhall, Canal Number One Polder and a mother of three, the eldest being eight. Up to press time last evening, police were on the lookout for her husband, Ramesh Muniram, who fled into thick bushes behind Unity Street, La Grange, WBD.
August’s body was found around 6 last evening and was later taken to the West Demerara Regional Hospital Mortuary, where it awaits a post-mortem examination.
A relative who went to identify the body last night said that there were countless marks of violence on the body and from all appearances, August was badly beaten. The relative said the woman’s hands appeared to be broken and there was blood oozing from her mouth.
This newspaper was told that when the body was found, only the upper part was clothed.
Police in a release issued just before 8 pm said that they were investigating the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death.
From the reports reaching Stabroek News, the woman left her home yesterday morning to meet Muniram, from whom she had separated after a dispute, to collect money for two of her children who he had fathered.
Persons living close to the dam that leads to the koker at Nimes recalled seeing August being reluctantly led to that area by the suspect some time on Tuesday.
Yesterday morning though, Muniram was seen towing his wife on a bicycle, heading in the direction of the koker.
He was seen leaving the area alone some time later.
Muniram returned to La Grange where he told a friend and his mother what he had done. The police were informed and went to the Nismes sea dam where they found August’s clothing – underwear, pants, her slippers and a bed sheet near the koker. Her body was not there, but there was evidence on the ground that suggested that someone had been dragged towards the koker, a police source told this newspaper.
Police went beyond that spot, combing the sea dam for the woman’s body but came up empty-handed. While this search was being conducted, other policemen, some armed, were combing the bushes behind Unity Street, La Grange where Muniram had fled. Police told Stabroek News that the man was spotted around 1 pm but fled and they did not fire at him because at that stage it was unclear whether he had indeed committed a crime.
The police combed the bushy terrain for several more hours but were unable to find Muniram.
When Stabroek News spoke with August’s relatives yesterday afternoon they were clinging to the hope that she was still alive and that Muniram had been joking.
Hours later, when the body was found, they were distraught.
According to a cousin, Rita Davis, Muniram had repeatedly threatened to kill August, her children and an aunt.
On several occasions police had to intervene in the disputes, she said.
The woman described the husband as a bully and recalled that she had often had to intervene in their rows as well.
She said she had advised August to be careful in light of the repeated threats he made to her life.
Davis said she last spoke to August on Sunday and recalled that the woman called her cell phone on numerous occasions on Tuesday afternoon. She expressed regret yesterday that she missed those calls.
Relatives said that some time after nine yesterday morning, they received reports that Muniram had killed his wife and then drunk poison.
They described him as a controlling man who always wanted things his way. Stabroek News was told that some time last year, he pulled a knife on August.
‘No police can’t ketch me’
At her Lot 52 Unity Street, Back Half, La Grange home, Muniram’s mother, Khemwattie called Jean was in tears when approached by this newspaper.
She recalled that some time after 9 am her son went to her home in a haste calling out for water; he had a green substance smeared all over his face.
She said she gave him the water and then some drink. She said she then smelled gramoxone on him and realized that he had ingested it.
The distraught woman said it was then her son admitted what he had done and she immediately left for his grandmother’s house nearby.
When she returned, Muniram who was sitting on a bench outside the house pelted his phone down and said that his problem was over. “No police can’t ketch me. When dem ketch me, ah dead”, he said before he fled into the thick bushes behind the house.
Khemwattie between sobs said that her son worked hard to get money to support his wife and children.
She recalled that since they got married in 2004, they had had domestic problems. The woman said that in 2008 her son went to Barbados and worked. When he returned home he discovered that his wife had used all the money. She said that after their house was repaired, August “dash he out de house”.
