Husband, friend charged with murder of Yarrowkabra woman

More than one week after a housewife was found hanging from a tree at Yarrowkabra, Soesdyke-Linden Highway, her common-law husband, and his friend were on Tuesday charged with her murder.

Dianand Lakhan, 41, and his friend 36-year-old Aubrey Williams, both of Yarrowkabra, Linden-Soeddyke Highway, appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Diamond/Golden Grove Magistrate’s Court where they were not required to plead to the indictable charge.
They were remanded to prison and will make their next court appearance on March 3, 2022.
It was reported that Reuben lived with her reputed husband, who told Police that they, along with several neighbours, were consuming alcohol on February 6, 2022. However, after some time the others left for their respective residences, except for a male friend.
The man said that his wife stayed on her verandah consuming alcohol while he and the other man retired to bed.
At about 04:00h the next morning, he reportedly told investigators that the male guest woke him to tell him that he was leaving their home. After acknowledging, the woman’s husband said he went back to sleep.
Two hours after, he said he awoke and made the gruesome discovery of his reputed wife’s motionless body hanging from a mango tree in the yard.
Following the discovery, the Police had stated that because of the positioning of the woman’s body, they believed that she was murdered, and her body was placed at the scene.
The post-mortem conducted on the body by Government Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh confirmed the woman died because of asphyxiation due to hanging compounded by blunt trauma to the head.
Following the revelation of the post-mortem examination, the woman’s husband and the alleged male visitor were arrested and remain in Police custody. It was also reported that the men confessed to killing the woman.