A 71-year-old woman of Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo has died following a severe beating on Monday from her husband who is in custody as police await the result of a post-mortem examination.
The woman, Serojanie ‘Golin’ Ramkarran was discovered dead in the lower flat of her home around 5:30 am yesterday, bleeding from a small wound to her foot.
She was found leaning against a window in the lower flat where she had locked herself to escape the beatings. The man slept alone in the upper flat that night.
Ramkarran, 75, called ‘Baabie’, returned from Georgetown around 2:45 pm and allegedly beat her about her body with a cutlass after he found her consuming alcohol.
Neighbours told Stabroek News that the couple would imbibe alcohol daily and that from very early in the mornings Ramkarran would have a few men there drinking.
One of the men, Prem, who turned up as usual yesterday morning, saw the woman leaning over the window and immediately informed Ramkarran who told him to jump through another window and open the door. They removed her and placed her to lie on the floor but her hands were already stiff and were left in an upright position.
A granddaughter said she received a call around 6 am that her grandmother was dead and when she got there she saw her lying on the floor. The police arrived shortly after and conducted investigations and after the body was removed, they cordoned off the lower section of the house.
A woman who gave her name as Pearly, said she dropped in to see the woman around 3 pm on Monday and took a “shot” with her. She would normally help the elderly woman with her cooking and other household chores.
She said she witnessed Ramkarran abusing the woman and tried in vain to stop him. The other men were there also but they did not intervene. Pearly said after the man stopped beating her she gave her a bath and put her to lie down.
Neighbours said they had called the police at one time and man was arrested. He admitted to the police that he abused his wife and said it was because of her drinking habit. They are not sure why charges were not instituted against him.
The neighbours, as well as relatives said they went “many times” to speak to the man about his abusive behaviour but he would not listen. He would “tell us this is his place and he can do what he want.”
A relative told this newspaper: “We used to tell them to change their lifestyle because they have grandchildren and great grandchildren but they never listened.”
The neighbours said that in spite of her drinking habit, Serojnie was a “good woman; simple and quiet.”
A neighbour said that around 5 pm on Monday he saw the woman leaning over the window vomiting while another said she was there again around 11 pm.
