A 56-year-old saleswoman of Recht Door Zee, West Bank Demerara was murdered on Sunday by her 69-year-old husband who then ingested a poisonous substance and later succumbed at the West Deme-rara Regional Hospital.
According to a police press release, Sara Bacchus-Arjoon was stabbed to death by her husband, Kemraj Arjoon. The police said that the incident occurred between 11:30 hrs and 15:30 hrs on Sunday at the couple’s Lot 755 Recht Door Zee, West Bank Demerara residence.
Their 19-year-old daughter Shania Arjoon, who spoke to the Stabroek News, said she and her mother worked full-time at a popular business in the area called ‘Cheap Shop’. She said her younger 13-year-old sister worked part time.
On Sunday, all three of them were at work, she said, when their mother left to go home for lunch, promising to return with lunches for them. After two hours passed and her mother did not return, Arjoon said she thought something was wrong, so she sent her sister to check.
Arjoon said her sister returned and related that on her arrival home, she detected what she thought was the smell of a poisonous substance. As she was managing the store, and busy attending to customers, Arjoon said, she asked her sister to return home and video call her, along with their parents.
Only her father appeared on the video call and when prodded, he admitted to consuming poison. Then the gruesome discovery of her mother’s body was made. Arjoon said she rushed home and raised an alarm with neighbours, who then called the ambulance and police station.
When the police arrived at the scene, they questioned her father and he directed them to where he had thrown the bottle which had contained the substance. The police also took possession of the murder weapon, a knife, as well as a note written on a piece of cardboard claiming that Bacchus-Arjoon was having an affair.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene and her body is currently at the Ezekiel Funeral Home, awaiting a post-mortem examination.
Bacchus-Arjoon’s sister, Jenny Bacchus, who lives in Essequibo, told the Stabroek News that she was at work when she was informed of the incident by relatives at around 18:30 hrs on Sunday. She related that immediately she and other relatives travelled via speed boat to the home, where she collected her nieces and returned to Essequibo with them.
“We don’t have any family around the area to look over them. The children are in Essequibo at the moment because they are traumatised,” she said.
