A 72-year-old man is dead and his wife hospitalized in a serious condition after they were attacked by three men at their Zealand, Mahaicony home sometime between 6 pm and 9 pm on Saturday.
The body of Deoroop Sieuchand bore multiple stab wounds while his wife, Ambika, 70, who suffered blows to her head was taken to the Mahaicony Hospital at about 7:30 am yesterday.
She was treated and transferred to the George-town Public Hospital. The man’s body
was removed around 10:30 am.
A 10-year-old child who was hiding in the house during the ordeal remained there until 6:30 am when he mustered the courage to leave for help.
A suspect has been taken into police custody after police learnt that the incident may have stemmed from a dispute between families over land.
Police in a release said that the body was found in the home around 6:45 am yesterday with several stab wounds and that his wife was assaulted. The police said that the house was ransacked. It is unclear if anything is missing.
Reports are that the couple was watching television when they heard a sound in the upper flat. Sieuchand went up to investigate and was confronted by three men. They had gained entry to the building through an open window using a ladder that Sieuchand used when picking coconuts. A struggle ensued between him and the men and it appeared as though he tried to seek cover in a bedroom. But the assailants cornered and bound him and inflicted the wounds which he bled profusely from. There was a pool of blood on the kitchen floor right below the bedroom where the murder took place.
His wife who heard the commotion was heading upstairs to check what was happening. When she realized what was happening she retreated to the lower flat. She also shouted for the child to run and hide. The men followed her and hit her on the head causing her to collapse to the ground in an unconscious state. They returned to the upper flat and apparently continued their attack on the man. This newspaper was told that the men went back down and hit Ambika to her head again. She had still not regained consciousness.
Before escaping, they also poured what seemed to be a beverage on her face and after she failed to respond they apparently felt she was dead, relatives said. There was also blood at the spot where she was attacked and lay helplessly.
Meanwhile, relatives who had gathered at the home yesterday told this newspaper that the main suspect who lives nearby and his mother had been involved in a land dispute with Sieuchand.
They recalled that recently the same man was suspected of entering the couple’s house and stealing a bag containing passports, cash and other items. The matter was reported to the police and the suspect was arrested and later released without being charged. The empty bag and subsequently the passports were later found in the couple’s yard.
They said too that about two years ago there was a physical confrontation between the two families over a land matter.
According to them Sieuchand was attacked with two pieces of nail-filled boards and he retaliated by lashing a woman with a broom. She reported the matter to the police and he was charged. The woman had claimed that the land on which Sieuchand’s house was built belonged to her. The magistrate then ordered her to produce the transport and after she failed, the matter was dismissed. In fact, the relatives said, the man’s mother had left the land for him and his eight siblings.
