West Berbice woman tried to leave abusive marriage, had dreams of a better life overseas

Forced to consume poison

By Devina Samaroo

Sattie Jagmohan, 27, of Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice (WCB,) had tried on numerous occasions to leave her abusive marriage, but would always return to her partner after he would threaten to take her life.
Jagmohan, a mother of three young children, died on Wednesday – some two weeks after her husband, Ramesh Nandlall, held a cutlass to her neck and forced her to consume a poisonous substance.

The woman’s best friend of some 17 years, Deepa Khublall, is calling for the full force of the law to be meted out against the man responsible for her friend’s demise, and for more to be done to help women who are silently suffering from domestic violence.
Khublall, who knew Jagmohan since high school, related that the young lady grew up in poverty. Though she performed well in school, Jagmohan had gotten pregnant shortly after she graduated, and was unable to find a job. The man with whom she was having a child had left her. Sometime after, Jagmohan entered into a relationship with Nandlall, and the two have been together for some eight years.
However, Khublall said, Nandlall had always been abusive towards Jagmohan, but the woman was forced to stay in the relationship due to poverty and for the sake of her three children, aged 10, six, and four.
Notwithstanding, Jagmohan attempted to leave the abusive marriage on numerous occasions, but her husband would always find her and force her to return to him.
“Every time she leaves the relationship, he would always find her and beg her to go back…she would always go back because of the kids, and then his family would go and beg, and she would eventually go back,” Khublall explained to Guyana Times.

“So many times she refused not to go, and he would always threaten her [by saying] ‘If you don’t come back to me, I am going to kill you’, or, ‘If I see you with any other guy, I am going to harm you or kill you’,” the friend added.
Against this backdrop, Khublall said, she had encouraged her friend to leave the country, and she was in the process of helping her friend and her children.
“Any time she tried to leave in Guyana, he would always stop her, and beg her to go back. So, she had a vision to move out of Guyana and go to a foreign country and make a better life,” she explained.
However, Khublall noted that whenever her husband finds out that Jagmohan has money in her possession, he would take it away from her.
Khublall also related that her friend had dreams of furthering her studies, but was unable to do so because of her financial situation.
“She was a kind person. She doesn’t have much to give you, but she would give you anything and everything. She is the type of person that is always willing to help and give,” Khublall expressed.

“Fed Up”
Khublall said that during conversations with her best friend, she would often express that she is “fed up” of her current living conditions and the constant abuse.
According to Khublall, on February 3, Nandlall had returned home drunk and began to verbally abuse Jagmohan. Jagmohan had then expressed that she was “fed up”.

This caused her husband to become angry and he started to beat her.
Khublall said Nandlall told his wife if she was “fed up”, then she should just “drink poison and dead”.
The man then found a bottle of poisonous substance and gave the woman to drink, but she refused. He started to beat her, and then he grabbed a cutlass and place it behind her neck, forcing her to consume the poison.
The incident, according to Khublall, unfolded in the presence of the three young children.
Jagmohan was then rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital, and was later transferred to the New Amsterdam Hospital, where she died on February 17.
Prior to her death, Jagmohan informed Police of what had transpired, and Nandlall was arrested on February 9.
An investigation was done and the file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, from whom legal advice was obtained. It was recommended that Nandlall be charged with attempt to commit murder.
Nandlall was charged on February 12 with the said offence. He appeared before Magistrate Peter Hugh at the Blairmont Magistrate’s Court and was not required to plead; and he was remanded to prison.
Nandlall is still on remand. However, it is expected that he will now face a murder charge.
Meanwhile, with their mother dead and their father likely to be imprisoned, it is unclear what will become of the children, as the woman’s family still lives in poverty.
Khublall says she would do all she can to help, but she is also calling on the Government and other organisations to assist in any way they can.