A father of four was yesterday charged with assaulting his wife, whom he allegedly tied with a rope and dragged up the stairs in their home before taking a cutlass to her.
The accused, Dhanraj Assabad, was placed on $40,000 bail after he offered a not-guilty plea when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
It is alleged that Assabad committed the assault on his wife, Camilla Assabad, on December 26, last year at Sarah Johanna, East Bank Demerara.
Prosecutor Lionel Harvey told the court that on the day of the alleged incident, the woman returned home and her husband accused her of infidelity. Harvey added that the man subsequently placed a rope around the woman’s neck, dragged her up the stairs, and dealt her several lashes with a cutlass, after which he demanded that she perform a sexual act on him. The man later left the home, giving the woman a chance to escape and she later reported the assault to the police.
In his defence, Assabad told the court that he took his family out on Christmas Day and placed them in a bus bound for home while he left to purchase an item. The man added when he returned to the vehicle, they were not there and when he went home his family was not there either.
The defendant explained that the following day, his wife returned home and an argument ensued between them when he confronted her about her whereabouts. During the confrontation, he said the woman told him to go to the shop to purchase an item. “She tell me that she had $1,000 in she pocket and meh must tek it to buy some chicken. So meh left to buy it but when meh come back from de shop she gone again,” he said.
The woman, however, denied the man’s claims. “Your Worship, he lying,” she told the court.
After listening to both parties, acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry placed the accused on $40,000 bail and a bond to keep the peace pending the determination of the matter.
