Following a two-day binge during which he repeatedly physically abused his wife and children, a 26-year-old man was found dead in his Berbice home on Monday.
The body of Basil Persaud, 26, a father of one, of Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam was discovered hanging from the main rafter of his home by his reputed wife, Rohanie Sukhwa early Monday. His wrists were also slashed. The woman and her children had left the home the night before after being physically and verbally abused by Persaud.
Sukhwa told this newspaper that her husband started abusing her and her two children, three months ago after he visited his relatives who live in another area of New Amsterdam.
She said that last Saturday, her husband consumed alcohol and when he returned home at mid-afternoon and found the two children playing in mud, he started to beat them. When she intervened, the irate man focused his wrath on her and stated hitting her about the face and body, Sukhwa said.
She recounted that when her reputed husband turned away; she ran out of the yard, collected the children and went to the home of a nearby friend. The friend, upon noticing Sukhwa’s injuries called a neighbourhood police officer who spoke to Persaud, who by this time was imbibing alcohol on the step of the couple’s home.
However, after the officer left, Persaud began to choke the two children and threw them against a wall, Sukhwa recounted. She said that he then began to hit her.
The next day, Sunday, Sukhwa, upon returning home from work was confronted by Persaud, who asked for money stating that he was hungry. He had been drinking again. In tears, the distraught woman said she gave him $500 and he left with her youngest son.
When the man returned with a bottle of alcohol, she confronted him about it and he started to abuse and threatened to kill her, the children, Sukhwa’s relatives and then himself. Fearful for her life and that of her children, Sukhwa said that she spent the night at the friend.
However, upon returning early Monday morning, along with a neighbourhood police officer, her husband’s lifeless body was seen hanging from the main rafter of the home. His wrists were also slashed and there were pools of blood on the floor. When Stabroek News visited the home on Monday, two bottles of rum rested on a table not far from where Persaud had hung himself.
Sukhwa said her husband was a “loving” father to his child and her other children from a previous union. She said that she never thought things would have ended like this since Persaud was a “quiet” individual who consumed alcohol on a regular basis but never troubled anyone including her when he was intoxicated.
