…family calls for 2nd autopsy
An autopsy conducted on Monday on the body of 43-year-old Sabita Shamnarine of Lot 2 Section ‘E’, Line Path Corriverton, Corentyne gave her cause of death as gastro internal bleeding and haemorrhage.
Government Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh has therefore concluded that her death resulted from natural causes.
Shamnarine’s family members are, however, calling for a second autopsy to be performed on her body.
Shamnarine died on Saturday last at the New Amsterdam Hospital, after being transferred from the Skeldon Hospital where she had been admitted after complaining of pain in her neck and back, allegedly following a beating from her husband.
The woman was reportedly beaten by her husband on July 15, and neighbours reportedly took her in an injured state to the Skeldon Hospital after she complained of experiencing severe pain. Hours after being admitted, she fell into an unconsciousness state.
However, before she had lost consciousness, she allegedly told medical personnel that she had been cuffed behind her head and at the side of her neck, and had also been kicked in her back. She claimed the injuries on her body were inflicted by her husband, who formerly worked with the Skeldon Sugar Estate.
The woman’s daughter had also reported that her father had used a hammer to hit her mother in her head.
The woman’s condition reportedly worsened while she had been a patient at the Skeldon Hospital, and she was subsequently transferred to the New Amsterdam Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries on Saturday.
Neighbours have since said that the late Sabita Shamnarine had suffered almost 20 years of abuse.
“Well, they always get a lil up and down, like when he drink rum. Sometimes in the morning when she come out to go to work, you see she face black and blue, or marks on she skin, or sometimes she head swell up. This thing going on long,” one neighbour told
Guyana Times.
Another neighbour said Shamnarine had, on a few occasions, sought refuge at their home to escape being abused by her husband.
Shamnarine had mothered three children, two of whom had died. However, a five-year-old lived with the couple.
Shamnarine’s former colleagues have said she was dismissed after she started acting abnormally and was found on more than one occasion speaking to herself. They believe that blows to her head over a prolonged period might have started affecting her mentally.
On Wednesday, a social worker went to Shamnarine’s home and found the suspect there with a male friend and the couple’s child.
When the social worker attempted to take away the child, the suspect resisted, the Police were called in, and he was arrested.
Police are today expected to seek advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on the way forward.
