Rajpattie Jagroop, 49, had been in her bed shortly before the drunken ex-lover of her 19-year-old daughter broke into her home and stabbed her to death.
Police have since taken the 22-year-old man into custody and charges are expected to be levelled against him shortly. Jagroop, of Zeeburg, West Coast Demerara, was stabbed several times about the body and collapsed shortly after. She was pronounced dead on arrival at the Leonora Cottage Hospital. The woman’s 17-year-old daughter, Basmattie Seswankar, was chopped to the head but is in a stable condition and no longer a patient at the hospital.
Parbattie Ramlakan yesterday said that she was involved in a relationship with the man for over a year but broke it off mid last year. However, the young woman said she still spoke to the man via telephone.
“He was a nice person, he never hit me or do anything like da,” she said, “and I never thought he woulda do something like that.”
The real problem, according to Ramlakan, started when she informed her ex-boyfriend that she was getting married. He tried to remain indifferent, she recalled, and said that there were many more women out there. A few days later the man showed up at her Zeelugt home shortly before 11 pm and demanded to see her.
Ramlakan said the man came calling that night and her mother thought it was a relative. Jagroop opened the door only to see the man, apparently under the influence of alcohol, who demanded to see Ramlakan. The woman initially refused the man’s request to see Ramlakan but he sat in front of the door and told her that he would not leave.
“I was in de room and lil after my mother come and tell me to go and see he so that he would leave,” Ramlakan recalled, “so I go and see he but he ain’t leave til 6 o’clock de next morning.”
After that incident last week, the young woman said, nothing happened until shortly before 5 pm on Tuesday. It was then the young man called to ask where she was. Ramlakan said she told him that she was at home but her younger sister, Seswankar grabbed the phone and informed the man to stop calling her.
“She grab de phone from me and tell he not to call me again,” Ramlakan said, “and lil after my mother tell me to put on some clothes and go by my big sister who lives a few villages away.”
While she was at her sister’s home Tuesday night the man called to ask about her whereabouts but she refused to tell him anything. He sounded normal, Ramlakan said, and even offered to buy her Chinese food.
“I tell he I didn’t want anything and turn my phone off and when I turn it back on later he call and tell me to look through meh front window that he at my gate. He really thought I de home but he didn’t know I de by my sister hiding,” the distressed young woman said.
Hours later, Ramlakan said, she received a call from a neighbour who said her mother and sister had been stabbed and were being rushed to the hospital. By the time she arrived at Zeeburg on Tuesday night Jagroop was already dead and she accompanied police to arrest her former boyfriend.
“He clamp he hand over she mouth and give she another one…”
Seswankar, Ramlakan’s younger sister who was home along with their mother on Tuesday night, said that she and her mother had been sleeping. Her mother, she recalled, left bed first after they heard a “noise” out in the house.
“We hear this noise in the house and she [Jagroop] get up first and lef’ de bedroom to go see is wah,” Seswankar said. “Is til later then we find out that he jump through de kitchen window and come in de house.”
Shortly after, the young woman said she heard her mother scream and rushed to the bedroom door. Seswankar reported seeing her sister’s ex-boyfriend grabbing onto her mother and as the woman screamed he covered her mouth with his hand and stabbed her again.
“He clamp he hand over she mouth and give she another one. Before I coulda scream or do anything,” Seswankar said, “he rush over to me and give me one chop in de head and then he run out de house.”
Seswankar said her mother walked a short distance, told her to get help and collapsed on a mat where she lay bleeding profusely.
The teen said she felt numb and couldn’t react for a few moments but eventually made her way to the front door, clutching her bleeding head, where she began “screaming and crying for help”. Neighbours responded shortly after.
Jagroop was the mother of four daughters; Ramlakan, Seswankar, an 18-year-old and a 21-year-old who is married. The woman’s reputed husband and father of her children, Ramlakan Seswankar was murdered during May, 1995.
“My mother used to do domestic work,” Parbattie Ramlakan said, “and I used to do de same work.”
Several relatives were present at the Zeeburg home yesterday afternoon when Stabroek News visited. They refused to comment about the incident but said that Jagroop’s daughters were “big girls now” and could fend for themselves.
Meanwhile, reports were never made to the police of any threats or “misbehaviour”, Ramlakan said, adding that she now regrets her decision to stay quiet out of fear. The young woman feels that had she been brave her mother would still be alive.
“I de never tell nobody or report anything to de police because I de frighten he woulda do something to me but now look wah happen,” the distressed teen said, “he end up doing something to me mother and sister.”
