The Guyanese man who was charged with killing his 11-year-old daughter has died in a Canadian hospital following a self-inflicted wound.
According to citynews.ca Roopesh Rajkumar had been in hospital since suffering a self-inflicted gunshot wound the night his daughter, Riya, was found dead in his Brampton home after she went missing on Valentine’s Day.
The report said that an Amber Alert was issued after Riya’s mother had gone to police after Rajkumar allegedly failed to return the girl on time after taking her out for her birthday. She told police that she had received worrying comments from Roopesh about harming himself and his daughter.
Rajkumar was detained by Provincial Police in a high-risk takedown some 130 kilometres away in Oro-Medonte shortly after Riya’s body was found. The report said that Peel Regional Police said his injury wasn’t discovered until he was transferred into their custody. It wasn’t until he was brought to hospital that the gunshot wound was discovered.
The news of Rajkumar’s death comes on the same day his daughter was laid to rest.
About 100 mourners gathered Wednesday to listen to speeches, poems and songs as the community remembered the young girl.
“My daughter Riya was taken from me too early,” Priya Ramdin, who did not attend the vigil, said in a statement read by Peel police Deputy Chief Chris McCord.
“She never liked to be negative and always saw the good in every situation. If I’m ever upset, she would say ‘Mama, don’t be sad, look at the positives”’, the report said.