Less than a week after being stabbed repeatedly, battered and doused with kerosene by her former lover Sharmin McKay, of Bachelor’s Adventure (Bare Root), died at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) yesterday afternoon.
McKay, originally admitted to the hospital’s High Dependency Unit (HDU), was transferred to the Female Surgical Ward early Saturday morning. Her sister, Sharlyn Booker yesterday said that her sister should not have been moved from the HDU so soon. McKay’s condition, according to her, appeared to be steadily worsening since Friday and the woman complained continuously of pain.
When Stabroek News visited McKay on Sunday she was still not able to swallow and was suffering much pain; the knife which had been lodged in her abdomen after the attack had been removed. Her face was still bruised and swollen from the beating and she said on Sunday that her throat and skin still blazed from the kerosene the man doused her with in a failed attempt to set her afire.
McKay had said that she had given her statement to police, was advised that her attacker would be charged with attempted murder and was “patiently awaiting justice”. However, McKay died before she could get her justice. The attempted murder charge initially proposed by police is likely to be reviewed and the capital offence levelled against the man instead, a source said yesterday.
When Stabroek News visited McKay yesterday afternoon she was heard complaining to relatives about a “burning” pain in her stomach. Minutes after the woman took three deep breaths and collapsed. The screams of McKay’s relatives drifted through the ward and nurses could no nothing to calm them.
“Meh stomach…, meh stomach…, meh tell ya’ll it burning all the time,” were the last words McKay uttered to her relatives.
One of McKay’s relatives said the woman had told her at the lunch visit yesterday that she wouldn’t live through the day. According to her, McKay knew how she was feeling and knew that she wouldn’t live long.
McKay, 32, was battered and repeatedly stabbed by her former lover who turned himself in to police last Thursday afternoon. The man, who was before the court for assaulting McKay last month, has been remanded to prison for the second time this year.
On Friday, McKay had told Stabroek News that her recollection of the incident, which occurred last Wednesday afternoon, was vague. The last thing she recalled, she had said, was sitting on her bed with the man and she got no warning that he intended to harm her.
“I can’t remember is wha happen,” McKay had whispered from her HDU bed on Friday. “I think he knock me out before he start to stab… he throw kero down my throat.”
McKay was found by a neighbour covered in blood on her stairs on Wednesday afternoon more than three hours after she was attacked. She was rushed to GPH that evening and underwent emergency surgery.
She is the third woman to die this month as a result of domestic violence. Omwattie Kallicharran was stabbed to death by her former reputed husband, Vishnudat Tajram, who later died after ingesting poison. Last Friday Krishandai Singh was dealt one fatal stab wound to the left side chest allegedly by her former reputed husband Ganesh Narine, who was charged with her murder yesterday.
