The wife of strangled logger, Rafeek Khan, foresees a bleak future as her husband was the sole breadwinner of the family and she said there were instances where he would behave secretively including on the day he disappeared.
The Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara man’s body was found last Thursday in a decomposing state at Latchmansingh Sand Road, one corner away from where he lived.
A post–mortem examination conducted the following day indicated that the 43-year old man died of manual strangulation and blunt trauma to the head.
The man’s wife Celine Khan told this newspaper yesterday that her husband of 18 years had worked hard to support the family. She said that he did various trades including rearing chickens and logging, the latter profession the one he spent most of his time. She said her husband worked in the Kwakwani area in Region 10 as a checker with a logging company there, and he would spend several months in the area.
She said that the last time he travelled to Kwakwani was some six months ago but since the area was experiencing flooding, the logging company downgraded its operations and her husband had since been trying his hand, “at whatever come by”.
Khan, a housewife, said that she had a surgical operation performed on her in April this year and the event was one of many which she viewed as major setbacks to the family, culminating with her husband’s death.
She said that her 15–year old son is differently-able and as such she has been at home since his birth to take care of him as the child spends most of the time in bed. She said that her 17-year old daughter did not continue her schooling at a secondary institution in the area. “With girl children you got to be careful”. She said she is contemplating sending the teen to “learn to use the computer”, but the thought of sourcing money for the venture is bothersome.
She said that her siblings as well as her husband’s, live in Berbice; the couple moved to Soesdyke almost 18 years ago, soon after they got married.
Khan stated that, “things now get confusing because I dunno who kill meh husband or why dem do it”.
She said the police are still in possession of his mobile phone which was one of several items found next to his body when it was discovered last Thursday around midday. Khan said that there had been times in the past, including last Tuesday morning when her husband left to pick ‘fat pork’, a fruit red and white in colour which thrives in sandy areas, when she would question her husband’s movements.
She said that it was about 7 am that day when she heard him speaking to a male, and soon after, within a matter of minutes, he left saying “he got to go and pick fat pork for a man”. She said she found it odd that he left the house quickly and she noted that he would usually take her along to the sandpit to pick ‘fat pork’ and other fruits including jamoon.
Khan noted that her husband would, “never say where he is going or he don’t let anybody else get near he phone”, and as such his disappearance last Tuesday morning made her uncomfortable.
The woman is expected to visit the police today at Timehri for an update on investigations into the matter. A resident in the area told this newspaper last week that the sandpit near where the discovery of the man’s body was made had been a preferred area for car thieves to destroy vehicles and she noted that families have told their loved ones “whatever you see, say nothing.”
She said that gunshots can be heard at the location on numerous occasions, especially at nights and, according to her, there had been reports of human bones being found in the sandpit but they usually go unreported.
