Husband jumps off cliff to his death

Following an argument, a couple jumped 25 feet over a cliff overhanging the Gran Couva river; the woman was able to make her way out of the water, but her 27-year-old common-law husband hit his head on a rock in the shallow water and died.

According to reports, his 24-year-old wife Vashti Ramsaran jumped into the river first and shortly after Rakesh “Bobby” Rampersad jumped in after her. Sitting on the river bank crying and screaming, Ramsaran looked on as relatives dragged the dead body of her husband, out of the knee-high water on Friday night. Miraculously Ramsaran, who has two children from a previous relationship, escaped with abrasions about her body and has since been staying with relatives at Chandernagore Village, Carapichaima.

According to Rampersad’s distraught mother, Nardaye, her daughter-in-law had jumped into the river at the back of her (Nardaye) house, following an argument with her son. Sitting on a chair at her home at San Pedro Road, Gran Couva, Nardaye told Sunday Newsday that Ramsaran and her son had been living together in a small wooden house opposite her (Nardaye) house for the past three months. She said that the couple had been in high spirits before the tragedy, but she was shocked that her son would jump into a shallow river. “I don’t feel my child jumped in there. Bobby had plenty skills, he was a climber, he knew the river very well,” she lamented. Recalling the events leading up to the tragedy, she said her son was not home when Ramsaran’s two relatives came to their home. She said her daughter-in-law went out with her relatives and returned half hour later.

She recalled when Rampersad came home, he accompanied his father, Samaroo Ramlogan, 49, to a nearby bar. When Ramsaran’s relatives left around 9.30 pm, the couple began arguing, and Ramsaran said she wanted to go by a relative. Nardaye said her son told his wife that she was in no condition to leave. On the brink of tears, the mother of seven said she took Ramsaran outside to clear her head but she pulled away from her and started running in the direction of the river. She said Rampersad ran after her and caught her before she got to the cliff. Rampersad took her back to their home and left her there. Nardaye recalled that her son was lying in the back of her house when Ramsaran called him to go home. But Rampersad did not answer. Eventually, Ramsaran called a neighbour and her son to help her carry her husband in the house but they didn’t help her.

With tears in her eyes, Nardaye said: “Around 10 pm, I heard a splash and then I heard the boy say, ‘Call the ambulance, Vashti jump in the river and Bobby jump in after her’.” Nardaye said when her husband heard the commotion and ran down to the river, he found Ramsaran crying on the bank. In the dark, Ramlogan searched through the water until he found his son who was already dead. Ramlogan tried to resuscitate him but it was too late. “My son did not have to die that way,” the woman cried. However, police sources told Sunday Newsday that they were awaiting the results of an autopsy scheduled for tomorrow at the Forensic Sciences Centre. Visiting the scene was DMO Dr Ray Choudarie and a party of officers from the Gran Couva Police and Couva CID including Sgt Edward Lomie, Cpl Wiggins,  PCs Branson John and Mohammed. The latter is continuing investigations.