Teacher found next to husband’s corpse commits suicide

Three weeks after 28-year-old school teacher Cindy Persaud-Dawson was found lying next to the decomposing body of her 35-year-old miner husband Kevin Dawson in the home they shared at Lot 7 Hugh Ghanie Park, Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara, this young widow, on Monday morning, was found hanging from a rafter in a bedroom in her father’s home at Charity, on the Essequibo Coast.
Cindy Persaud-Dawson had reportedly become emotionally unstable after her husband’s death, and had returned to her father’s house at Charity River’s Dam, Essequibo Coast, to recuperate from the ordeal of losing her husband.
Guyana Times understands that since the death of her husband Kevin Dawson, Cindy Persaud-Dawson had been acting in an abnormal manner, although she had not displayed any suicidal tendencies. She and her husband had reportedly shared a very close bond, and his demise had reportedly been very traumatising for her.

This newspaper understands that Cindy was being treated for the trauma she had experienced, and had undergone psychiatric evaluation by a team from the psychiatric clinic of the Georgetown Public Hospital, which determined that she was suffering from severe psychiatric trauma.
Relatives promised to take her to the psychiatric clinic for further treatment and counselling, in order to help her cope with the loss, but this never materialised. Doctors at the clinic feel that the incident could have been prevented if she had sought the necessary treatment.
Based on reports received, the woman was last seen alive by her brother at about 23:00h on Sunday, when she was looking at television. However, when the young man woke up on Monday morning at about 5:00h and was about to use the washroom, he discovered his sister’s motionless body hanging from the rafter via an electrical extension cord.
The former teacher attached to the Turkeyen Nursery School was described by her colleagues as a very caring individual. Her body was taken the Suddie Hospital mortuary awaiting a post mortem, but the police have since confirmed that there were no visible signs or marks of violence on her body.
Dr Util Thomas, Director of the GPHC Mental Health Unit, told the Guyana Times last week that poor coping skills are the major cause for suicides in Guyana.

Recap
Cindy Persaud-Dawson was discovered in an unconscious state on June 5 last, lying next to the corpse of her husband, Kevin Dawson.
She was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where she spent some time before being discharged. The post mortem performed on her husband’s man’s body proved that he died from typhoid and malaria.