The daughter of Rajwantie Baldeo, the US-based Guyanese woman who was knifed to death in Queens, New York, just after midnight on Sunday, says her mother and the suspect shared a very abusive relationship and he had threathend to end her life before.
Shalini Ronaldo Ramjiawan told Stabroek News yesterday that the suspect, Prem Rampersaud, and her mother had been married for 30 years. Their relationship, she said, was characterised by violence and her mother was subject to severe abuse at the hands of the man. “Couple month before mommy (Baldeo) went to New York, they did separate and he did pull a knife on her and tell she he will kill she before,” Ramjiawan said.
She said Baldeo left Guyana in September and was working as a cook in a restaurant in New York at the time of her death. She was expected to return to Guyana next February.
However, about three weeks ago Rampersaud left Guyana for vacation in New York. Ramjiawan said after her mother’s death, she was informed that before the man departed, he told his neighbours and other villagers that he was going to New York to kill Baldeo.
As a result, her family is of the belief that the act was premeditated. “My father is an alcoholic and he is very ignorant. Whenever he drinks, he would beat her (my mother) very bad,” Ramjiawan said.
She recalled receiving a call from her sister in New York around 6.15am on Monday informing her that Baldeo was dead. “They tried calling me earlier but my phone was on silent, so I didn’t hear the calls coming in,” the weeping daughter said.
She said based on what was related to her, Baldeo was beaten prior to her death since her entire face was “black and blue.” Due to the blows, she fell unconscious, she said, and she was stabbed several times about her body. Her neck was almost severed also.
“Like when he attack her was ten minutes after she had finish working and was walking home,” Ramjiawan said.
Rampersaud was on Monday charged with murder.
A New York Post report said the suspect was taken into custody after two persons discovered him while he was in the process of sawing through Baldeo’s neck. “The 50-year-old man allegedly confronted the woman — identified as being in her 40s — about a man she supposedly met online…,” the report said. It was reportedly after midnight and the two were at the corner of 124th Street and 103rd Avenue when they got into a fight, the report added.
During the course of the argument, Rampersaud allegedly whipped out a large kitchen knife and stabbed the woman several times in the chest, shoulder and both hands.
Two eyewitnesses, who happened to be walking down the street at the time, discovered Rampersaud kneeling over Baldeo’s body and making what appeared to be sawing motions with the large knife. They said it sounded like he was cutting through bone, the report added.
The police were called and they apprehended Rampersaud a few blocks away. He was later charged with murder and possession of a weapon
Baldeo was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital and a knife believed to be the murder weapon was recovered at the scene.
“Police said Rampersaud gave his wife approximately US$9,000 to move to the US from their native Guyana about a year ago and eventually followed her to Queens where they moved in together,” the report stated.
Ramjaiwan related to this newspaper that her father was always known as a jealous individual. She said that he recently found out that Baldeo was very active on Facebook and he accused her of chatting with a male. “He never use to want her to talk to nobody and so… once, when they were still together, he had break up she phone and so,” Ramjiawan explained.
Baldeo’s body is expected to be flown to Guyana for cremation.
