Wife told Police to leave house – husband’s sister

Corentyne murder/suicide
…family calls for Police ranks to be charged

The sister of the man who hacked his wife to death before committing suicide in Albion, Corentyne, Berbice on Monday last is claiming that the now dead woman had told the Police to leave her at the house after they had accompanied her to the premises to collect her belongings.

However, family members of 29-year-old Subrina Lakhan have said this could not be true, and are contending that the Police ranks who left her with her assailant must be made to face the brunt of the law.
On Monday, 42-year-old Ramesh Ramdeen took his own life after killing Subrina Lakhan, his wife of 15 years, and with whom he had parented three children.
This incident took place at the couple’s Chesney New Housing Scheme, Corentyne home after the couple had left the Albion Police Station and had gone to the house in the company of two Police officers and the late Ramdeen’s sister along with the couple’s 13-year-old daughter.
The Police were there to provide protection for the woman as she collected her belongings, but the ranks reportedly left before the woman was finished packing.
Earlier on Monday, Albion Magistrate Renita Singh had given an order that the Police must escort Lakhan to the house to pick up her clothing.
Ramdeen’s sister, Asha Hidar, who was also at the house when the tragic incident occurred, related that it was Lakhan who asked the Police to leave. Asha Hidar was also ordered by the same magistrate to accompany the couple’s teenage daughter to the Chesney house to collect her clothing and to take her to her grandmother, hence her presence there.
According to Hidar, the late Subrina Lakhan told the officers to go, saying she was “all right.” However, Lakhan’s mother, Monica, is refuting claims that her daughter had sent the Police officers away and remained in the building with her husband.
Earlier in the day, the court had granted a restraining order against Ramdeen, and had initially banned him from the house. However, Lakhan informed the magistrate that she was going to move instead. It was then that the magistrate made the order for the Police to accompany the mother of three for her to uplift her belongings.
The now dead woman’s mother told the Guyana Times that during a telephone conversation with her daughter on Monday, her daughter had told her that she was going to see her soon, and that she was still packing her belongings.
“I ask her where the sister-in-law is and she say that she on the stairs and that her husband walking up and down….I didn’t ask about my granddaughter. She say that she have a few more things to pack and then she coming,” the 54-year-old woman related to this publication.
Meanwhile, the dead woman’s sister, Nalenie Ramjattan, said that while she was not present at the house, based on information reaching them, they strongly believe that the Police left without informing her sister.
She noted that the front door and verandah doors were both closed, and the only access to the building was through the kitchen door on the lower flat.
When this publication visited the home of the dead woman’s mother, she along with other family members who had gathered, called for justice and for the officers to be held accountable.
“If the Police had stayed there as instructed that would not have happened. I am not going to let this pass like this,” the grieving mother told Guyana Times.
Meanwhile, as family members calls for justice, the Police are contending that the officers did nothing wrong, since the officer who was in charge of the operation functions as the secretary to the senior Police officer in the division.
In fact, Divisional Commander, Assistant Commissioner Lyndon Alves, told the media that those who are accusing the Police officer of taking a bribe could be charged for so doing.
Members of both families claim that the officers were given $2000 for transportation, since no Force vehicle was available to take them to the house.
Nevertheless, investigators have since taken statements from several persons as the investigation continues.
The now dead couple leaves to mourn their three children and other relatives and friends.