Young mother killed by boyfriend

A 24-year-old mother of one was yesterday morning stabbed to death allegedly at the hands of her live-in boyfriend at the Hague West Coast Demerara home they shared.

Dead is Rajkumarie Persaud known by most persons as Ashti, a stay-at-home mother of one. She sustained multiple stab wounds including one in the region of the heart that her family believes was the fatal one.

She was rushed to the West Demerara Regional Hospital by family members where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Rajkumarie Persaud
Rajkumarie Persaud

Her alleged killer is currently under police guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital after he was turned over to the police by a friend hours later. He said that he had ingested a poisonous substance and is understood to be in a medically stable condition being monitored by GPHC medical staff.

Persaud lived in the lower flat of the lot 64 Hague Backdam house of her maternal aunt Savitree and her husband Swamee Sukhu.

A cousin of Persaud related the events to this newspaper as the aunt sobbed as she listened. “It was a little after 10 [am] my mother hear a scream and she know from the scream something happened to Ashti so she run downstairs and same time see Amit running out the house to the back…when she went into the house Ashti deh in a pool a blood,” Persaud’s cousin told Stabroek News.

When this newspaper visited the home several neighbours and friends had gathered   and were trying to comfort the aunt who was too emotional to speak about the killing but kept repeating how loving her niece was.

Her cousin said that the alleged perpetrator did not sleep at home on Saturday night but returned yesterday morning and according to family members seemed to be under the influence of alcohol. Persaud’s cousin related that Persaud had moved into her aunt’s home about a year ago, having moved from her father’s Diamond East Bank of Demerara residence. It was around the same time she met the alleged killer, a dental technician who also worked on the East Bank of Demerara. The two began a relationship and about six months ago the man began living with her at Hague.

He said that they never witnessed any arguments between the two because Persaud was always coy. “They don’t row and fight up and so, but she is very quiet, she don’t like those things …she was kind and loving that’s all anyone would tell you,” a relative said. Police Crime Chief Leslie James said that the police are investigating the homicide.