Berbice man who set wife on fire now charged with murder

Days after Sandra “Roma” Raju who had been set on fire by her husband succumbed to her injuries, the perpetrator, 30-year-old Ganeshwar Sheocharran, has been charged with the capital offence of murder.
He was initially slapped with an attempted murder charge and was remanded to prison by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, but was on Thursday arraigned with the new charge when he appeared at the Whim Magistrate’s Court.
He was not required to plead to the indictment, and was remanded to prison until October 14, 2021.
It has been reported that Sheocharran and Raju had had an argument during which he used a lighter to set his wife on fire, but she managed to put out the flames by rolling on the floor.
The woman, who suffered second-degree burns to 98 per cent of her body, had been in critical condition in hospital.
Raju, a medical laboratory technician attached to the Port Mourant Hospital, had reportedly been living in an abusive relationship, but had been reluctant to report incidents of violence to the Police.
Reports are that after setting his wife on fire, Sheocharran had fled the country, but family members of Raju were alerted, and they contacted the Police. By that time, however, he was already on his way to the US, having boarded an American Airlines flight on Tuesday.
The United States Embassy in Georgetown has said that through cooperation among the regional security offices of both Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, the Guyana Police Force’s Criminal Investigation Department, US Custom and Border Protection, the US Marshal Service and Caribbean Airlines, Sheocharran was denied entry upon arrival in New York, and was sent back to Guyana.