A mother of 14 died shortly after she was bitten by a snake on Monday night and now her husband is left to contemplate the fate of his seven young children even as he vows to support them.
Kushmatie Sukhdeo, 42, of La Bonne Intention, East Coast Demerara, was going to have a bath in her outdoor bathroom when something bit her.
According to her niece-in-law, Natasha Persaud, Sukhdeo was bitten behind her ankle and had to shake the reptile off her leg. “I was upstairs when I come down she say something bite her (and) she sitting on the step.”
Persaud said that hydrogen peroxide was poured over the wound. It was Persaud’s husband who suggested it may have been a snake bite given the puncture mark. He encouraged Sukhdeo to visit the hospital to be treated.
Persaud said that Sukhdeo was bitten around 8pm and by the time she relented to go to the Georgetown Hospital it was around 8.30 pm. “Me husband tell me tie off the leg and I do that and I watch she walk out to the road and catch a bus for the hospital,” said Persaud.
According to Persaud, Sukhdeo insisted that she would go to the hospital alone. It was around 11 pm that Persaud said she took a call from the hospital. She said that the person on the line explained that four attempts were made to resuscitate Sukhdeo but were unsuccessful.
Persaud said that the person on the line never told her that Sukhdeo had died but only insisted that someone should come to the hospital.
Persaud said the family learnt that Sukhdeo had passed out outside the hospital’s accident and emergency unit.
Persaud said that news of her aunt’s death came from her mother-in-law who had called the hospital to inquire about Sukhdeo’s condition shortly after the hospital had called her. Sukhdeo’s eldest daughter was the one who went to the hospital to identify her mother there following her death, Persaud said.
“We didn’t expect that and we didn’t think that could have happened,” Persaud said of her aunt’s death. Persaud said that the family was still shocked at Sukhdeo’s passing since there are many tales of persons surviving snake bites.
“I said no I can’t believe this she was a strong woman, she never had no sick or nothing,” was the reaction of one of Sukhdeo’s daughters, Priyma Haymraj when she learnt of her mother’s death. “My mom was very good to us,” the 22-year-old said.
According to Haymraj, her mother had seven children from a previous relationship. The children ranged in ages from 26 to 13.
After that relationship ended, Sukhdeo then married Shadeo Sukhdeo and together they had seven children. The eldest is 10 years old while the youngest is two years old. Shadeo said that his wife’s death “is a surprising something me nah understand it.”
The couple has been together for 10 years, Shadeo said. Shadeo is a fisherman and spends lengthy periods at sea. When asked what will happen to the children he said that he will have to take care of them.
When Sukhdeo was alive, she worked as a domestic to contribute to the household as well as take care of the children while Shadeo was at sea. “Right now I need lil help,” Shadeo said. He said that he has a piece of land but needed assistance to build a home. Shadeo and his wife lived at Sukhdeo’s family home.
According to Persaud she and her husband will assist in raising the younger children since Shadeo does not want the children to be split up.
Meanwhile, Sukhdeo was described as a “very good, kindly woman” by her husband. “She gah a good heart she does live for God,” Shadeo added.
According to Shadeo a post-mortem was conducted yesterday morning and it concluded that she died as a result of the snake bite. Sukhdeo’s funeral is expected to be held on Sunday.
