Annandale woman critical with alleged self-inflicted burns

An Annandale resident who allegedly set herself ablaze on Wednesday was up to yesterday in a critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH).

Jashodra Mangru called ‘Shanta,’ 57, of Lot 114 Courbane Park, Annandale, East Coast Demerara (ECD) was rushed to the public hospital around 10 pm on Wednesday by members a policing group, nursing third degree burns to forty per cent of her body.

According to reports reaching this newspaper, Mangru who is a domestic worker, left home for work as customary and when she returned hours later, she appeared to be frustrated and didn’t speak to anyone. She then locked herself away in her room and doused her body with kerosene oil before lighting a match.

Jashodra Mangru
Jashodra Mangru

Omawattie Bissesar, Mangru’s eldest daughter, told this newspaper yesterday that the incident shocked her entire family circle and community. When Stabroek News visited the house where the incident occurred yesterday Bissesar said she was only made aware of the incident early Thursday morning when she received a call from someone informing her that her mother was in the hospital. The woman added she immediately rushed there, but saw her mother in such a condition that she couldn’t stand it and immediately left. She has not returned to the hospital. According to Bissesar, her mother is currently on life support and doctors have said there is nothing else they could do for her.

She said that since the incident, she and other relatives are still pondering what may have caused her mother to commit such an act to herself. One relative noted though that it appeared that the woman had family problems that she was facing but never shared with anyone.