A 26-year-old woman was slashed to death yesterday allegedly by the man she once shared a common-law relationship with and who is now in a critical condition after stabbing himself and drinking poison.
Omwattie Kallicharran of Lot 31 La Jalousie, West Coast Demerara breathed her last at the home of the sister of her former husband in Canal Number Two, West Bank Demerara.
Her suspected killer, 31-year-old Vishnudat Tajram of Lot 52 New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop, was rushed to the GPHC with stab wounds to his neck and chest and vomiting. Up to late last evening he was in a critical condition.
Ironically the Canal Number Two address is the place where the two first laid eyes on each other and it appeared as if Tajram had planned the attack carefully. He had three knives, a knife sharpener and a bottle with the poisonous substance.
Police in a release said the woman’s body bore several stab wounds and her throat was also slashed.
Kallicharran’s bloodied body was still lying on the ground when Stabroek News visited the scene more than two hours after the attack.
Yesterday’s murder, which rocked the quiet community of South Section Canal No 2, brought an end to years of conflict between the two following a relationship that appeared to be doomed from the day they decided to elope.
The relationship, which produced a 4-year-old boy, all about ended two years ago when Kallicharran decided to return to the home of her mother but Tajram, according to his relatives, wanted the woman to return and was begging her to do so for the sake of their son.
But while his relatives are calling it his begging, her relatives are labelling it his constant harassment which saw him issuing numerous threats not only to end the life of the woman but that of their child.
“If you see nuff, nuff report deh at the police station because he always threatening she…” the woman’s mother Parbattie said yesterday. She said while the couple married in a religious ceremony their marriage was never registered.
It is not clear how the two ended up together yesterday as while Tajram left his home at around 8 am under the pretext of going to work – he sold cakes for a baker shop – Kallicharran left her home at around 11am to travel to the immigration office to uplift her passport.
Just about an hour and half after she left home her mother received the news of her daughter’s death from the killer himself.
“…he tell me how a just kill you daughter,” the distraught woman said yesterday.
Tajram’s sister, Kileshwarie, yesterday said that when her brother and Kallicharran arrived at her home she was at the back of her house watering her plants and no one was home. She said she saw a car pull up in front her house and saw some persons entering the yard but at the time she did know the identities of the persons.
“By de time I come out to de front I see she lie down dead and he vomiting,” the woman said yesterday. She and neighbours said they did not hear a sound and it is believed that the man may have slit the woman’s throat immediately on arrival.
Neighbours said that they were only alerted to the incident when Kileshwarie started to scream and they immediately contacted the police. They said Tajram was lying on the ground and crying out in pain while asking for water at intervals.
“When dem pick he up to carry he to de hospital and put he in de car he get up one time and start to pound the car window and den he lie down back,” a neighbour said.
The man’s sister said she had not heard from her brother for some time and did not understand why he would want to travel all the way to her home to murder the woman and kill himself.
However, other relatives of the man said yesterday at the GPHC that it was at his sister’s home the two met sometime ago.
“He took her back right where they met,” a male relative of the man commented yesterday.
‘Wanted to leave’
According to the man’s relatives he told them last week that he heard Kallicharran had met someone overseas and wanted to leave the country and take their child.
However, the woman’s mother said her daughter had no plans to leave the country and that she just wanted to have a passport.
And while the woman’s mother told of how her daughter was verbally and physically abused by the man leading her to leave the union, his mother, Raywattie, accused the woman of tormenting her son and not wanting him to see his child and this really broke him up.
Raywattie said she had a sixth sense that something was not right when her son left home yesterday morning as he did not take his breakfast, something he did every morning.
“I ask he if he want food to carry but he say no and I see he with a bag but I ent know wah he had in it.
I then find he driver licence and I call he and ask he how he going to work without he licence and he cut off de phone but he call back and seh he tell he boss man he ent working today,” the woman related. She said shortly after, she received a call from her daughter informing of the tragic incident.
Asked if her son was ever abusive to the woman, Raywattie said “He slap she one time because she ent wan open de bedroom door and is dah time she lef but you ask anyone heh (pointing to the numerous residents who had gathered at her Vreed-en-Hoop home), me son de very nice to she.
He use to help she cook and suh. Me son went through a lot and you ent know how it use to hurt he when dem ent want he see de child,” the mother said.
It was a totally different story told by Parbattie, whose home was also filled with friends and neighbours while her daughter’s siblings cried and lamented her death. She said the man abused her daughter and stayed out late in the nights drinking.
She wanted nothing more to do with him because of his attitude but he refused to accept that the union had ended.
The woman admitted that they sometimes refused to allow the man to see the child because he was in the habit of threatening to kill the child.
“Last Easter he carry de child to town and call we and tell we how he guh slit he throat and give he poison to drink and was hell fuh we get back de child. We had to call de police. But is only last week Saturday de child sleep by he and he bring he home Sunday,” the woman said.
As she spoke, her grandson, who was being hugged by one of his uncles, stared at her with tears rolling down his cheeks.
“Ow, me sister must be call me, she must be say leh me come and save she, ow she dead in pain, ow a can’t tek it no mo,” the woman’s older brother cried yesterday as relatives attempted to console him. His mother said that her husband died when her children were very young and her older son helped to support his siblings and was very protective of his sister.
Kallicharran is the latest in a long line of women murdered in domestic violence incidents.
Last month Eunice Charlie, 55, of Waramit Farming Area, Awaruwaunau Village, South Rupununi and 31-year-old Gertude Edwards of Ithaca were both murdered, allegedly by their reputed husbands
On March 31, 39-year-old Pamela Mangru was stabbed three times in the throat and slashed about her body. She subsequently bled to death. Her alleged attacker and reputed husband Devon Limerick has since been charged with her murder.
On March 12 , Savitrie Arjune of Lot 382 Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, a mother of two was stabbed to death by her former reputed husband. He escaped and is still to be apprehended.
In February, 38-year-old Deborah Allen of Port Kaituma, North West District, was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital after being chopped by her reputed husband. Her teenaged daughter was chopped across the face and spent several days in the Georgetown Hospital.
That same day, two women, Nekecia Rouse, 25, and her sister-in-law, 18-year-old Alexis ‘Keisha’ George were slashed to death in New Amsterdam. Their attacker is still being sought.
