A woman and her sister were chopped multiple times on Tuesday night at Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice, in an attack carried out by her drunken common-law husband.
Haymatie Kowchaie, 30, and her sister, Omwattie Persaud, 43, of Covent Garden, East Bank Demerara, were chopped about their bodies by Kowchaie’s husband. Kowchaie sustained injuries to her head, hands and shoulder, while Persaud was chopped to her right foot, left shoulder and hand.
Both women are now patients of the Female Ward of the Georgetown Hospital, where they complained yesterday of being in excruciating pain. Their attacker Ramesh Ramoo was arrested and taken into police custody shortly after the attack. Kowchaie also said that he was in the habit of beating her and threatening to kill her but he never behaved like he did on Tuesday.
In recounting the attack, Persaud told Stabroek News that she travelled to Bath for a funeral and was staying with Kowchaie and her family afterward. She said around 7pm, she, her sister and her sister’s two children, ages nine and ten, were in the kitchen downstairs while their father was asleep in the upper flat.
As they were sitting, Persaud said that Ramoo, who was drunk, arrived home with a bottle of rum in his hand. He then asked his wife for his soft pants. The woman stated that her sister told him, “You come from funeral and you nah no wey you left you pants?”
Despite the admonishment, Persaud said Kowchaie gave him his pants, which he put on and then he exited the house once more. While he was outside, Ramoo picked up his cutlass, resulting in his wife asking what he was about to do with it.
At this point, Persaud recalled, he replied, “Oh gad man, me can’t pick up me own cutlass fuh prepare fuh go wuk?”
The man then took the cutlass and walked towards the back of the house but his wife got up and followed him. Her two children also followed and saw when the man turned around and started to chop their mother.
Persaud stated, “Me ask am fuh left de gal and he chop me. Me sister run upstairs and me run behind she and he chop me foot and me grabble a sheet and run unda de bed. Me tell me fada nah mek noise because he come look fuh me.”
Kowchaie said that after she ran up the stairs, Ramoo came after her. As a result, she jumped from the house into a nearby drain. She said her children witnessed the entire ordeal and after she jumped into the drain, they began to scream. Neighbours, who saw what transpired, called the police, who responded and arrested Ramoo.
Kowchaie told this newspaper that she has been living with Ramoo for the past 10 years, during which time he abused her. She said, “He used to beat me but he neva chop me. He a talk seh he go kill me.”
All the years of abuse were never reported to the police but she will pursue this matter, she said. Her sister also said that she will be looking for charges to be filed against Ramoo and they are not going to settle the matter.
Kowchaie also stated that once she is discharged from the hospital, she will move in with her sister, since she does not plan to return to the home she shared with Ramoo or continue to live with him. Her two children are staying with her brother in Berbice until she recovers from her injuries.
