Husband awaits sentencing after confessing to killing wife, stuffing body in barrel

34-year-old Suraj Veersammy, called “Radesh”, who confessed to killing his reputed wife and stuffing her body in a barrel in April 2020, now awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to a manslaughter charge.
Indicted for the capital offence of murder, the labourer appeared before Justice Navindra Singh at the High Court in Berbice on Tuesday, and opted to plead guilty to the lesser count, admitting that he had unlawfully killed 24-year-old Devika Narinedatt, called “Vanessa”, on April 9, 2020.
Sentencing for the confessed killer has been deferred until next month, as Justice Singh has granted time for a probation report to be prepared on the convict.

State Counsel Nafeeza Baig had presented the prosecution’s case. According to reports, the partially decomposed body of the woman was discovered in a barrel floating in a trench at Belvedere, Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
After interrogation, Veersammy told detectives that the woman had threatened to end their relationship, and this had angered him and he had retaliated.
Initially, he had claimed that the late Devika Narinedatt had hanged herself, but he later told Police that they had had an argument, during which he had taken a bed sheet to hang himself, but in the process of doing so, the woman had continued arguing, and that had prompted him to hang her instead, but not before he had hit her in the head.
After committing the act, Veersammy had said, he had left the house; but he had returned later, cut down the woman’s body, and stuffed it in a barrel which he later dumped in a nearby trench.
When the woman’s body was discovered, a bed sheet had been tied tightly around her neck, and her body had borne marks of violence on her left eye, left shoulder, left hand and leg, and stomach.
Police had arrested Veersammy at the Dharm Shala at Fort Canje in Region Six. Narinedatt, a Venezuelan national, had been born to Guyanese parents.