(Trinidad Guardian) Fearing the worst after finding his son-in-law hanging behind his home, it was a bitter sweet moment for Purnanand Bhim when he opened his daughter’s car and found his three-year-old granddaughter clutching her mother’s bloodied body yesterday morning.
Despite being stabbed on her neck, face, hands and chest, little Arti Ramkhalawan stared at her grandfather, not crying or even moving from her mother, Aarika Bhim’s lap.
According to police, Arti’s father, Premnath Ramkhalawan, stabbed her mother to death in the back of her green Nissan Sunny B13 on Sunday night and drove the car to a track approximately 100 metres from their home at Laltoo Trace, Penal.
He then ran to a shed at the back of the house and used a rope and bucket to hang himself.
Police believe Arti was on top of her mother when Ramkhalawan attacked. She was taken to the Siparia District Health Facility where she was treated and later transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital where she remained warded on Monday.
South Western Division police, including Insp Anderson Pariman, Insp Peter Ramdeen, Sgt Irwin Joachim, Sgt Ryan Ramsingh and investigator PC Riad Hosein, processed the scene and found the murder weapon on Ramkhalawan. Investigators said hair and blood were found on the knife.
Aarika, 26, was a manager at Doors and Windows Factory Ltd while Ramkhalawan, 25, was a labourer at the company’s branch at Wilson Road, Penal.
Bhim said yesterday when he went to feed his cattle around 6 am yesterday, he found Ramkhalawan hanging from a rafter. As he went to call his wife, Sharda, a neighbour heading to work, stopped and asked why his daughter’s car was parked in the bush.
He said it was only when he opened the car door he realised the nightmare that had unfolded.
“When I walked up there, I saw my daughter in the back seat lying and my granddaughter opened her eyes big, watching me.
“I called the ambulance, I held her, I took her out to the ambulance and then she was gone and that was it. I called the police. I saw a lot of blood and nothing else,” Bhim said.
