A Kortberaad canecutter yesterday hanged himself after stabbing his reputed wife and two others and torching a home at Number 7 Village, West Coast Berbice (WCB).
The police in a statement said that around 20:50h on Sunday, cane harvester Nandlall Ragnauth, 48, of Kortberaad, East Bank Berbice (EBB), went to the home of his reputed wife’s mother at Number 7 Village, WCB, where he broke into the home and attacked his reputed wife Hushmanie Rasheed, 28, with a knife. The statement went on to say that Rasheed’s brother Devanand Tuldas, 25, and a friend Bharat Narine, 34, of Number 2 Village, WCB, were stabbed to their bodies during the incident. Narine who was stabbed three times and once in the region of heart is currently hospitalized at the New Amsterdam Hospital.
Ragnauth, police said, then set the house on fire and hanged himself from a tree on the premises.
The one-flat concrete home that housed three adults and three children was completely gutted with no items saved.
Rasheed, who was stabbed three times, said she shared an approximately eight-month relationship with Ragnauth. However, she said two months ago she ended the relationship due to constant abuse. The woman said that during her eight-month relationship, she lived at Kortberaad. However, two months ago she moved in with her siblings at their Number 7 Village Middle Walk back dam home.
On Saturday, the injured woman said, she received a call from Ragnauth while she was at work informing her that he was at the home. “I never wanted him to come and I tell he I don’t want anything to do with he,” she said. Nevertheless, she said on Sunday he returned around 9 am, and she gave him his clothing that he had brought along. However, she said, he didn’t want to leave after he received the clothing and began drinking by himself.
Rasheed explained that before it got dark, she asked her nephew and niece to stop a bus and to send him home. Around 8 pm on Sunday, Rasheed said she had just finished showering and was proceeding to change her clothes when he attacked her, stabbing her three times. She said she screamed and her brother and the friend ran to her rescue. Her brother was stabbed to his hand.
Narine then attacked Ragnauth, hitting him with a piece of wood. Rasheed said that after Narine hit Ragnauth he fell and Ragnauth turned around and stabbed him thrice. Yesterday, when this newspaper visited Narine in the hospital he was nursing several wounds.
Narine said he wrestled with the man and took away the knife then ventured to a friend who informed his relatives of the injuries before going to the Fort Wellington Hospital.
Rasheed said that she ran out of the house with her daughter, while her sister and her two children and her brother ran out of
the house when Ragnauth started to break up the windows on the front of it.
Rasheed said she rushed to the Fort Wellington police station and made a report before going to the health facility nearby for medical attention. She said the police did not act promptly, and relatives opined that if they had acted quickly, the house would have been saved since lawmen would have been able to apprehend Ragnauth. In addition, she stated that her brother Tuldas along with her sister and children were left behind. Before leaving the area, she said, her brother returned and enquired about what Ragnauth was doing in the house alone. However, Tuldas saw that the solar lights that they used were on and that Ragnauth had quit smashing objects. Tuldas after noticing the area was quiet, left and went to seek medical attention and eventually made a report at the station. Rasheed said that after receiving medical attention, neither she nor her siblings returned to the home but slept at a friend’s home in Bath.
However, around 11 pm, her mother Kowsila Sewdat, 54, who lives at Kortberaad, said that she received a phone call informing her that the house was on fire. She stated that she immediately contacted her family who confirmed that her house was on fire. The relatives told this newspaper that when they got to the scene the house was already ravaged by fire.
A relative told Stabroek News that whilst putting out the fire, residents noticed a body hanging on the guava tree located at the back of the yard. The police were summoned once more and arrived shortly after and removed the body.
Ragnauth was pronounced dead on arrival at the Fort Wellington Hospital.
Ragnauth’s relatives stated that he and his first wife had separated about three years ago and he recently became involved with Rasheed. However, the relatives claimed that Rasheed had given Ragnauth an ultimatum to either move with her to the West Coast or to end the relationship. Jagdat, a brother stated that Ragnauth had not fully decided to move, but the last three weeks he had been visiting Rasheed. They stated they spoke to him but he didn’t listen.
Ragnauth leaves to mourn his three children, siblings and other relatives and friends.
