Cane harvester remanded for killing wife

A cane harvester attached to the Albion Sugar Estate in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) has been remanded to prison for allegedly chopping his wife with a cutlass, resulting in her death.

Mahendra Paltoo, 35, of Lot 172 Bloomfield New Housing Scheme, Corentyne was on Thursday remanded to prison after being arraigned before
Whim Magistrate Renita Singh for the murder of his wife Oma Davi Virasamy, 30, a housewife of the same address.
The court heard that on November 7, at Bloomfield, Corentyne, Berbice, Paltoo murdered Virasamy. Unrepresented by legal counsel, Paltoo was not required to plead to the indictable charge.
During the court proceedings, Police Prosecutor Shinel Mathieson told the court she is awaiting additional information to complete the case file, and asked the court to allow her three weeks to complete this process.
After granting the Prosecutor’s request, Magistrate Singh remanded Paltoo to prison, and set his next court appearance for December 12.
Paltoo had reportedly said that he awoke at about 04:40h on Monday and discovered his wife lying motionlessly. His
father, however, handed him over to the Police upon learning that Virasamy had died.

It has been reported that Paltoo, who had initially told investigators that his reputed wife had fallen on a cutlass and sustained a cut to her foot, has changed his story and has told them that he and his reputed wife had had a misunderstanding after she had accused him of infidelity.
The Police have said Paltoo is claiming that, during the argument, Virasamy pushed him and he armed himself with a cutlass and dealt her several lashes about her body, causing her to receive a cut to her right ankle and injuries to other parts of her body, including under her left eye.
The Police have said that a postmortem examination carried out on the body of Virasamy has revealed that she died from shock and hemorrhage due to an artery of her foot being severed. (G4)