A stormy relationship between a Timehri couple ended tragically yesterday morning when a man chopped his former reputed wife to death in front of one of their three children. He died this morning in hospital after taking poison.
Twenty-six year old Gaitri Narine, also known as Lalieta, was chopped with a cutlass by her former partner Ramoo Seepersaud at his Alliance Road, Timehri home. The man then proceeded to drink a poisonous substance. A police press release said he was taken out of the creek in an unconscious condition. He died around 1 am at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
The couple, who had lived together for close to ten years, had been estranged for about two months, this newspaper was told. The two had a major disagreement a few months ago after which the man obtained a restraining order against the woman.
The woman was forced to leave the home and was living with another man. The couple’s three children were living with Narine.
Sometime after 7.30 yesterday morning, the woman took the children, aged 6, 4 and 3, to Seepersaud’s home. “I see she [Narine] and the children come in the yard when I deh passing, but me ain know why she come here,” Seepersaud’s older sister told this newspaper. The woman, who declined to give her name said that normally the children would come to spend time with their father, but that they would walk over to his house or he would collect them. The woman said that when she saw Seepersaud and Narine while on her way out, the two had not been arguing. “Later I hear how he chop she and he drink the poison, the woman said.
According to the woman the incident would have occurred some time around 8 am. The couple’s eldest child witnessed the chopping, which took place in the yard, and ran and told her father’s relatives. The child’s younger brothers were with an uncle and his wife in the front house at the time of the attack. After chopping the woman the man drank the poisonous substance before jumping into a canal at the back of his home. The man’s relatives later retrieved him from the canal and took him to the East Bank Regional Hospital. He was then transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Chronicling the relationship that the couple shared, Seepersaud’s relatives, who also live in the village, said that the two had been having disagreements for a while now. Their last disagreement, they said, occurred a few months ago and as a result Narine was taken into police custody.
She was later released, they said, after Seepersaud begged for her.
Subsequently a probation officer got involved and Narine left the home with the children. Seepersaud was awarded visiting rights and would pay child support, they said. They said that since Narine did not have a birth certificate or identification card, Seepersaud would carry the money by the woman and have her sign in a book that she had received it.
Another of Seepersaud’s relatives told this newspaper that the man had been abused by the woman when they had been together. “She does beat he up; never mind he big built and she short and lil piece. But he never knock she,” the relative said.
The relatives said that Seepersaud, who was employed at a sawmill, had become frustrated by the behaviour of the woman. Narine, used to do domestic work one day per week, but would spend the rest of the time liming by a shop. According to them, very often Seepersaud would find himself at home having to look after his younger son. They said that when Seepersaud complained she argued that she was free to do what she wanted and so was he. There had also been a dispute over the property that the couple lived in, the man’s relatives said.
Also at the scene yesterday was Ramlochan Narine, the dead woman’s cousin. He told this newspaper that he received a phone call yesterday morning informing him that his cousin had been killed. He had last seen the woman alive on Thursday. According to him, the couple’s relationship had been on the rocks for some time. He said that he and other relatives had tried several times to help the couple to settle their differences particularly for the sake of the children.
However, according to Narine, the woman did not seem inclined to patch things up. The cousin told Stabroek News that Seepersaud had been accused of infidelity.
“He is a very quiet person,” the man said referring to Seepersaud. He said that while counselling the couple, she had admitted to “pulling knife on he [Seepersaud] a few times but had never complained about her partner doing the same or knocking her. The couple he said had gotten married according to Hindu rites but had never legalized the union.
