Taxi driver feeds estranged wife, 3-year-old poison

…commits suicide as mom, daughter battling for lives

A father of three is now dead while his estranged wife and three-year-old daughter are battling for their lives at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) after the man allegedly forced them to consume a poisonous substance moments before he did the same.

Dead is 57-year-old taxi driver, Balkarana Persaud called “Clement”, of Lot 59 Martyr’s Village, Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara (ECD). Battling for their lives are Kavita Persaud and her three-year-old daughter Sarswati Persaud.
According to reports, the now dead man’s estranged wife, Kavita, did not reside at the Mon Repos home, but the couple’s young daughter, Sarswati, lived with her father. This newspaper was told that Kavita, who separated from her husband a few months ago, would visit the home to assist with taking care of the child.
However, on Monday morning at about 07:30h, neighbours heard screams from Balkarana Persaud’s home, and upon investigating, they discovered the trio lying on the floor, frothing from their mouths.
The neighbours sounded an alarm and persons living in the street rushed to the scene.
However, Balkarana Persaud had already died before the efforts were made to save his life.
Guyana Times was told that Kavita’s relatives, who live a few houses away from this residence, rushed the mother and daughter to the hospital.
The dead man’s sister, Brenda, told this publication on Monday afternoon that she was at her home when her brother’s neighbours contacted her at about 10:00h to let her know that the man had died.
“Nobody was home, the three of them alone was home, and like the poison like all three of them drink it or something, I don’t know. My brother has two older daughters from a previous marriage but they were not home when it happened. They usually go away to spend time at their mother’s family and they were there when it happened,” Brenda told this publication.
According to Brenda, her brother and Kavita had been in a relationship for seven years but went their separate ways recently after a series of domestic disputes.
“She does not live here, the two of them separate a couple of months now, problems make them separate with quarrelling everyday…When she comes here she does jump over the gate and come here, the little girl she comes to take get her dressed and ready for school. So that is her passport, she does come to dress the child to go to school, so that probably brings problems too but I don’t know because I don’t live here with them”.
She told this publication in relation to Persaud’s other two daughters, relatives are yet to make a decision as to who will take care of them, now that the two have lost both of their parents. One of the girls is differently abled and would need adequate care, Brenda noted.
Lilawattie Ramlakhan, whose deceased sister was previously married to Persaud, stated that the man had taken the two older girls to her home a few days ago to spend some time with her.
However, she said that Persaud did not appear to be down in spirits and for him to have allegedly committed suicide on Monday came as a shock to her.
“When he was by me, he was normal yesterday (Sunday), he eat and drink and spoke nicely. Everything was good and he left and returned to his home. He did not look like he had a problem or anything like that but whenever he had problems he would always call and complain to us”.
Meanwhile, Commander of C Division (East Coast), Calvin Brutus, told this newspaper that to pronounce on this incident to be a murder-attempted suicide would be premature.
“We don’t have the facts straight other than what the neighbour alleged that she heard screams and saw when she peered over the persons were all frothing at the mouth, so we don’t know if it was accidental, if someone administered it deliberately or what…Police have taken different samples from the home of thing that we suspect or things that should be tested…whatever they used, if there was any cup with water we would have taken that and so on,” he added. (Kristen Macklingham)