– psychologist
Convicted drug trafficker Somwattie Persaud has become clinically depressed and suicidal since her incarceration, Psychologist Dr Cephas Sealy told a Barbados court yesterday.
Not only because of the “predicament” in which she finds herself and the worry about her children, Sealy said, but because her husband Lemme Campbell continued his abuse of her in the form of prison letters.
Sealy, a character witness called on Persaud’s behalf, was testifying in the No. 5 Supreme Court yesterday. He said he had been providing the 40-year-old Persaud with psychotherapy over the period of time that she had been incarcerated.
“She displayed behaviour which required psychological intervention and she was clinically depressed,” Sealy testified.
He said he had been conducting joint sessions with Persaud and Campbell but stopped them because of the letters.
Sealy explained that Persaud’s depression stemmed not only from her “current predicament” and from her separation from her children and the worry that others were parenting them, but also because “of her husband’s continued abuse in letters he had been sending her in prison”.
The psychologist said he learnt from Persaud that she had been married to Campbell, 45, for four years after a 15-year common law relationship.
It was only after they became married, testified Sealy, that Persaud said Campbell started to have extra-marital affairs and became physically abusive.
She told him there were instances where Campbell had doused her with kerosene and lit her; “busted open her scalp” with a solid candlestick; split her mouth and hit her on the leg with an electric curling iron.
“She said she felt trapped in the relationship but she could not get out because she was bound to the house unless otherwise allowed by him.
“He fully controlled her and any attempt to resist would result in beating,” said Sealy, adding that the couple’s 13-year-old son was a witness to one of the beatings.
“The letters were demeaning and affected her emotionally. She would go into a deep depression and entertain suicidal notions,” he said.
In addition, he said Persaud blamed her current predicament on Campbell because he had taken her to Barbados for a holiday.
When cross-examined by Principal Crown Counsel Anthony Blackman, the psychologist admitted he did not discuss with Persaud her attitude towards the offence for which she had been convicted.
Persaud and Campbell of 106 New Garden Street, Georgetown and four other Guyanese — Christopher Andrew Bacchus, 43, and his wife Dianne 37, both of Bay Gardens, Bay Land, St Michael; Wayne Gavin Green, 38, of North Ruimveldt, Georgetown, Guyana, and Bridgefield, St Thomas; and Rohan Shastri Rambarran, 43, a businessman of Georgetown, — have been convicted of an elaborate 2005 drug smuggling ring. Campbell and Rambarran were also convicted of importing both cannabis and cocaine on November 29, 2005.
They will all be back in the No. 5 Supreme Court on Monday when another character witness, a psychiatrist, is expected to take the stand. Attorneys for Persaud will then mitigate as the case is at the mitigation part of the sentencing phase.
Director of Public Prosecutions Charles Leacock, QC; Principal Crown Counsel Anthony Blackman and Principal Crown Counsel Wanda Blair prosecuted.
Sir Richard Cheltenham, QC, and Shelly-Ann Seecharan appeared for Rambarran; Vonda Pile represented Christopher and Dianne Bacchus; Vincent Watson and Desmond Sands appeared for Green; while Ralph Thorne, QC, and Arthur Holder represented Campbell and Persaud.