Geeta Boodhoo clutches her left arm reflexively; its hand has been severed. And the 31-year-old of Tuschen Housing Scheme, East Bank Essequibo resident knows her life will never be the same again.
It was in the chopping incident that rendered her disabled that Boodhoo lost her mother, Zalima Khan, 55; her daughter, Ashley, 9; and a friend Floyd Drakes, 30; on December 16 last year.
Boodhoo’s former reputed husband, Joshua Franklyn, a cane-harvester who turned 45 the same day, and his son Jimmy Franklyn have since been charged with the three murders.
Boodhoo who worked as a waitress, sustained severe injuries to her head, neck and shoulder and it was while barring the chops that her hand was severed, just above the wrist and left hanging by the skin.
Several surgeries were performed on the wounds, some of which now carry steel but doctors were unable to save her hand. She said doctors have also told her that in “later days” the head injuries may affect her mental state.
She still experiences severe pain, especially to her head and is hurting emotionally that she cannot do much for her children: Varshanie, 9; Jerod, 8; Jonathan, 7, and two-year-old twin girls: Rohini and Mohini. She is also faced with the grim reality that she may never be an independent person again.
Tears welling up in her eyes, she told Stabroek News: “It rough, I have to use one hand and I stress out a lot. My daughter assists me to bathe and change my clothes and she even helps me look after the twins.”
She is also grateful that her sister, Sharda and her family have been there for her and the children. “If it wasn’t for my sister I don’t know what I woulda do,” she emphasised.
Her dream is to start earning again one day and she said she would be grateful for a job as a security guard since she feels it would not require the use of two hands.
In the meantime, Boodhoo has been forced to beg for a living as she does not want to put all the pressure on her sister.
She would willingly give up begging if she gets help as she has had to endure unkind remarks as she does this.
Gruesome death
“Sometimes I does sit and tell myself look how my days turn… I already fed up with life but I get strength when I watch my children’s faces. I ask God why this had to happen to me. I lost my mother and I lost my daughter and I wish if God can send them back to me. Sometimes I wish if I was dead instead of them,” she said.
Boodhoo lamented that her loved ones as well as Drakes did not deserve such gruesome deaths. She is haunted by this and also blames herself for not being able to help them.
Recalling what happened on that fateful night, she said she had met Drakes at the bar where she worked. That night, her work ended a little late and after Drakes told her that he also lived in the Tuschen Scheme, they joined the same taxi and she asked him to accompany her home.
He went into the house to say hello to her mother who wanted to know who he was and about to “get up to leave” when what she described as her worst nightmare began.
Shaking her head in regret, she told this newspaper, “I didn’t know that woulda happen or I woulda never ask he to come in the house.”
Angry
Boodhoo said she and Franklyn had been together for about eight years.
They started fighting constantly after the birth of their first son especially when Franklyn consumed alcohol. “When he was drunk he was miserable… Persons would tell he things about me to cause problems between us. When he start, me and the children have to run out and sleep under the house (which was very low] just to avoid a problem.”
She made reports a few times at the station about the abuse and threats and he was arrested and charged. Whenever he was released he would be angry and would beat her up more.
He was locked up again in October and placed before the court after he reportedly beat her with a cutlass, dragged her on the road and threatened her.
He was remanded until November and on his release, he was ordered to keep his distance from her. He then started staying at a brother’s home at Vergenoegen.
The matter had been scheduled for March this year.
‘Another chance’
Boodhoo said that on many occasions she had left Franklyn and tried to move on with her life but he would not leave her alone.
She recalled that she would go away to her mother’s house at Leguan at times and he would call and beg her to return home but she would refuse.
He would then speak to her mother, who was always there for her, promising her he would change and she would feel sorry for him and tell Boodhoo to “give him another chance.”
She would also go away with the children to the homes of other relatives but he would find her. At one time he tracked her down all the way in Berbice and took her home.
According to her, they also had financial problems as sometimes he would “work one week and would not work for the rest of the month. I used to burn sugar and fry it up with rice and give the children to eat.”
She admitted that he liked “my children and whenever he get pay and he go to the market he would buy things for them too.”
The deceased Ashley was Boodhoo’s daughter while Varshanie is also hers from a previous relationship. She said Franklyn had claimed that the twin girls are not his.
