Thirty-year-old Christine Singh of Rose Hall Town, Corentyne consumed a poisonous substance on Saturday morning and consequently died soon after. Her death allegedly followed years of domestic abuse she had suffered at the hands of her husband.
According to her mother, Sarojinie Singh, Christine had told her on Friday afternoon that she was “going out,” but had promised to return home soon. After Christine had left home, Sarojinie said, she recalled that a parade was going to pass on the public road on Friday night, and so she and her neighbour went out to view it.
Deceased: Christine Singh
At about 19:30h, she witnessed her daughter being manhandled and assaulted by her husband in the vicinity of the “burial ground bridge” on the public road. The distraught Sarojinie noted that her daughter did not confide in her about this most recent beating she had received from her husband, as she did not return home that night.
Sarojinie said she was in her kitchen sometime on Saturday morning when she heard her neighbour’s urgent call summoning her, and upon running to the front of her yard, she noticed her daughter vomiting continually while leaning against the fence. She said she rushed to assist her daughter, but by the time she was near her, the girl had already fallen in an unconscious state to the ground.
Fearing the worst, she called a taxi – which arrived promptly – and rushed her daughter to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, where she learned that her child had ingested a poisonous substance. Moments later, Christine Singh was officially pronounced dead by medical officials.
Sarojinie told Guyana Times that several reports had been made to the police about the physical abuse her daughter had been made to endure at the hands of her husband; but, on numerous occasions, the reports had gone uninvestigated. This very distraught mother feels that if the police had acted on any of those reports, her daughter would not have been forced to take her own life. (Ramona Luthi)
