Sumintra ‘Lalita’ Ramkellawan and four family members narrowly escaped death early Friday morning when her estranged husband made good on a promise to set her Miss Phoebe, Port Mourant, Corentyne house on fire, in an attempt to kill her. The man later committed suicide.
Ramkellawan, 46, told Stabroek News that her reputed husband Sirpaul Punwa, known as ‘Brodso,’ also torched an AE 100 Corolla, valued $1.6 million, belonging to her brother-in-law. Mohamed Zaleel Ally. Quick action by neighbours saw only damage to the kitchen area of her house while her brother-in-law’s car was completely destroyed.
Punwa, 54, of Allness Village, who Ramkellawan said had abused her for three years, had threatened to set her house on fire and kill her after she ended the relationship.
After carrying out the attack he avoided capture by police and later ingested a poisonous substance. He died the next day at the New Amsterdam Hospital.
Neighbours assisted in forming a bucket brigade to save the building from being completely destroyed until the fire tender arrived and successfully managed to put out the blaze. Ramkellawan, her seven-year-old son Shawn Ramnauth , her sister Asha Sankar, 41, her mother Poonaseah Sewsarran, 73, and Ally continue to live in the damaged house.
In her bid to escape the fire, Sankar jumped through a window and sustained injuries on her chest, hands and legs, which became infected. The seven-year-old child also jumped after his aunt and is also complaining of chest pains.
Sewsarran, Ramkellan’s mother, took a chance and escaped through the veranda – even though the fire was nearby – and jumped on the roof of a zinc-sheet shed. Unable to go further, she had to be lifted down by Ally. The elderly woman then crept in the grass and went into a neighbour’s yard. As if the ordeal were not enough for her, she fell into a duck pond and Ally again had to rush to her assistance.
Ramkellawan, who followed her mother onto the zinc shed roof, remained there for fear that the man would carry out his threat of chopping her neck off. Three persons, she said, later went and assisted her off the shed.
Reports are that police visited Punwa’s house several times after the incident but were unable to capture him. Around 3 pm the same day he apparently ingested a poisonous substance and was later found foaming at the mouth. His daughter, Nalini Sarjoonauth, 34, immediately rushed him to the Port Mourant Hospital. He was transferred to New Amsterdam Hospital, where he succumbed around 11 am on Saturday.
Ramkellawan told this newspaper that the man placed a few pieces of clothing in an old tyre under her stairs and doused it with gasoline and kerosene and then set it on fire. He had tied the door from the outside to prevent the family from escaping.
He also set the car on fire. Neighbours saw the blaze and raised an alarm. At the same time, Ally heard a loud explosion coming from his car and alerted the household. They had all been asleep. Neighbours reportedly saw two persons running away from the scene and occupants are afraid that the other person would return to hurt them. They are asking the police to patrol the area so that they could “feel more at ease.”
According to Ramkellawan, Ally, who was a cane cutter, “struggled to buy his car and start working hire with it.” She said the man who was the sole breadwinner in the house, cried bitterly f or his car.
She said the family is badly in need of whatever assistance they can get in this difficult time.
During the relationship, she said, Punwa would threaten to kill her and would verbally abuse her mother. She said he even took a hammer to “buss me mother head.” He had also attempted to beat her sister. She said when she could take the abuse no longer, she severed the relationship with Punwa. But she said the man would still call and threaten her. She had reported the threats to the police.
