– partner hospitalised, suspected of ingesting poison
Dead: Bibi Salima Persaud
A 50-year-old woman was found dead in her home late Friday night in what police believe is a domestic violence-related murder. Her common-law partner was discovered nearby, semi-conscious and foaming at the mouth, after allegedly ingesting poison.
Dead is Bibi Salima Persaud, a housewife of Lot 193 Ivan Road, Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara (EBD). Her partner, 38-year-old Dinesh Ram, known as ‘Paul’, is currently hospitalised under police guard at the Diamond Regional Hospital.
The gruesome discovery was made just after 23:00h by Persaud’s son, Sankar Persaud, who lives in a separate house on the same property. He told investigators that he and his brother had just returned home when they heard Ram groaning in the yard.
The house where the Bibi Persaud was murdered
With rainfall earlier that evening, the yard was covered in shallow puddles. Persaud said he called out repeatedly for his mother, but there was no response. Alarmed, he entered the wooden house and found her lying motionless on the floor with her throat slit. Police were summoned to the scene, where they found Ram on the ground with a green substance around his mouth, believed to be pesticide. Officers also discovered a bloodied kitchen knife on the floor inside the house, along with a bottle of suspected poison near the door.
Persaud’s body bore multiple visible injuries, including stab wounds to the forehead, mouth, neck, wrist and face. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators believe the killing may have followed a heated argument. According to her son, the couple frequently quarrelled, often over accusations of infidelity.
Police said Ram was immediately transported to the hospital, where he remains under close monitoring. He is yet to be questioned formally as investigations continue.
Meanwhile, a neighbour told this publication that earlier in the evening, the suspect appeared in her yard and she asked him to leave.
“He was in my yard around 6 o’clock, and when I saw him, I asked him what he was doing in my yard, and I told him to get out of my yard. He sucked his teeth and he left. Around 12 something, I hear her son scream, and then I hear she was murdered. That is all I know”, the woman said.
