The Essequibo Coast community of Riverstown was rocked by a gruesome murder/suicide yesterday afternoon as a young carpenter killed his wife and dumped her body in a trench before hanging himself.
Dead is 24-year-old Rabinandan Ramadahar called ‘Ricky’ and 23-year-old Rohanie Tagewanttie called ‘Vedo’ both of Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast. The couple lived together for six years and were the parents of a 5-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl. A third child died last month.
Stabroek News was told that at around 2:20 pm yesterday, Ramadahar contacted his wife’s relatives and informed them that he had killed her and that he was going to take his own life. Worried relatives immediately travelled to a backdam near Riverstown where they came upon the gruesome sight of Tagewanttie “buried head–first” in a trench. Minutes later, persons discovered the body of Ramadahar hanging from a tree along the dam, some 400 metres away from his wife’s body.
Tagewanttie’s sister, Neetu Persaud told Stabroek News that she was at work at the Charity Hospital yesterday afternoon when Ramadahar called her and told her what he had done. She said that she immediately got worried since on Wednesday, the carpenter had threatened to kill her sister and had been hiding from the police ever since.
Persaud said that it is unclear why the man would have wanted to kill her sister but she noted that he appeared frustrated since their youngest child died last month. She explained that her sister had been home for several months after giving birth to a boy whom she described as differently-abled. Persaud said that the child, who was almost two years old, died on June 20th from medical complications. She said that her sister returned to work last Wednesday at the Jaigobin Supermarket on the Essequibo Coast and according to her, during her lunch break that day, Tagewanttie went to the market at Anna Regina. She said that her sister met Ramadahar at the market and during an argument, he threatened to kill her.
Persaud said that the couple had experienced domestic problems in the past. She said that on Wednesday evening her sister reported her husband’s threats to the police and the man decided to move out of their home and return to his family at Riverstown.
“They used to live here with us at Anna Regina by me and meh mother but since Wednesday he move out and gone by he family in Riverstown because he frighten the police,” Persaud recounted.
She said that during the week, her sister’s in-laws visited her at Anna Regina and the women decided to move to Riverstown, “mussy fo mek up with she husband.”
Persaud said that yesterday her sister left the community to visit her son who was spending the holidays with relatives in Pomona. The woman said that it remains unclear how the couple ended up in the backdam aback Riverstown.
She said that Tagewanttie was already fearful of her husband ever since he threatened to kill her.
She said that yesterday afternoon when Ramadahar called her, she grew cold since “like me done know something happen and soon as he said he kill meh sister I know that it was coming.” The young woman revealed that her murdered sister was the third of three children. Persaud said that Ramadahar, who carried out his carpentry trade at various places along the Essequibo Coast, was quiet and friendly.
Reports are that a large crowd converged at the scene where the woman’s body was found even as police attempted to keep curious onlookers at bay.
Post-mortem examinations are expected to be performed on the bodies later this week.
