Mother strangled, then lover hangs himself

THE COMMUNITY of Partap Trace, South Oropouche, was rocked by scandal early yesterday morning when a 47-year-old man strangled his lover, who was also his relative, before committing suicide.

Kamal Mohammed, hung himself with a piece of rope in his house shortly after strangling his brother-in-law’s wife, Savitri Ramkissoon, 36, a mother of three. Mohammed’s wife, Sharda, and Ramkissoon’s husband, Ramesh, are brother and sister. The act seemed premeditated, as only three weeks ago Mohammed visited a media house and threatened to take his life and others. The reporter to whom he spoke recalled: “He said ‘plenty coffin going to come out from where I live including mine’.”  Mohammed also ensured that the bodies were found as he telphoned his son, Ryan, on Wednesday night and requested that he “check him” after work. Ryan, a cook at “The Original Barbeque Hut” at Bel Air, La Romaine, made the gruesome discovery around 1.30 am. Senior policemen disclosed that they found notes in Mohammed’s pants pocket in which Mohammed wrote about contemplating his suicide.

Mohammed was employed as a janitor at the Fyzabad Police Station, and Ramkissoon, a cook at the School Feeding Programme in Fyzabad. The two lived approximately one mile away from each other, with their separate families. Almost three weeks ago, Mohammed’s wife of 24 years, Sharda, left him after suffering years of physical abuse. “I knew about their relationship for almost two years,” she sobbed. Neighbours said that they knew of the lovers’ meetings, and that the relationship caused a division among the family. Ramesh, a fisherman, told Newsday that he had confronted his wife about Mohammed, but she always denied that it was true. He said: “She never used to talk much when I asked her about it. But the way she used to move I say she done with that.” However, Ramesh revealed that on two occasions Mohammed threatened to kill him. He said that while at a wedding in Partap Trace on May 4, Mohammed confronted him and said “ You spoil my house and I coming to kill you.” Last month after a cricket match, Ramesh recalled, Mohammed was intoxicated when he told him  “I coming to chop you up.”

Ramesh said on Wednesday evening he came home from work; when he did not see his wife by 7 pm he went in search of her in Fyzabad. When he did not see her by 9 pm, he said he thought she was at a co-worker’s house where she spent the night last week Friday. But several hours later, neighbours called him to Mohammed’s house where his wife’s lifeless body was found on a mattress on the floor in a bedroom. Detectives said that the woman’s body bore marks around her neck, and a green coloured substance was found on her blouse. The body was examined by District Medical Officer, Dr Bhimsingh, who ordered its removal to the San Fernando Mortuary. Visiting the scene were Homicide Sgt Whitaker, Siparia CID Sgt Michael Wells,  Cpl Leo Flanders and officers from the Oropouche CID.