A 49-year-old carpenter, who was allegedly hit in the head by his 20-year-old son, died at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) on Wednesday, hours after the son appeared in court on a charge of attempted murder.
Dead is Sunalall Ruplall of Lot 3 Rosetta, Canal Number One, West Bank Demerara. He died sometime after 5 pm on Wednesday at the medical institution with his wife of 25 years, Yamattie by his side.
Hours earlier, his son, Nandalall Ruplall appeared before Magistrate Fazil Azeez at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate’s Court on a charge of attempted murder, to which he was not required to plead and was remanded to prison.
Relatives, at the home yesterday, blamed liquor as the cause of the tragedy. They told Stabroek News that the younger Ruplall, who is Sunalall’s only son, had returned home on Sunday afternoon with his behaviour showing that he had consumed alcohol.
Sunalall’s mother, Rampattie Ruplall related that at the time, she was lying in her hammock at her nearby home. She said that her grandson came home, drunk and cursing and his father, who was also lying in another hammock, asked him not to do so. She said that Sunalall had also consumed alcohol earlier and they argued about money. However, the youth continued to use foul language and his father got up and made his way to the kitchen. “He seh he father ah cuss and he gon cuss here too”, she stated.
Upon hearing the commotion, Yamattie came downstairs. “When me come downstairs me see me husband lying down with blood coming from he head”, she stated. She related that she went for the police and when she returned her husband was in the hammock. She took him to the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) where the wound on his head was stitched and he was sent home.
But throughout that night he cried out for pain in his head and early the next morning, they returned to the hospital. An x-ray was ordered and after this, while they were waiting for the doctor, Yamattie said, Sunalall began to get “stiff” and act strangely and was taken into the room and had to be forcibly restrained.
After being looked at, he was transferred to the GPH, where relatives were told that he had to have a “brain scan”. He died two days later. Nandalall was held by the police on Tuesday.
Relatives yesterday lamented that alcohol had caused the tragedy and torn the family apart. “Is just so he come and argue with the man”, one said. “You see what liquor and things does cause”, another stated.
They revealed that Nandalall was the only son and the only one of three children, who still resided at his parents’ home, though one of his sisters lived nearby. A granddaughter also lived with them.
Sunalall was described as a very simple person, quiet, and one who did not quarrel and fight with people. “He is not a bad person”, one relative said. They said that while Nandalall was detained he called every day to find out how his father was doing. They said that apart from little arguments, father and son had had a good relationship. “Is the liquor”, one declared.
