Court frees wife

A market vendor, accused of murdering her husband, was freed yesterday after the prosecution conceded there was no evidence on the deposition to convict her of murder. This point was raised in a legal submission by one of her attorneys,  Larry Lalla, on Wednesday. After considering the issues, Justice Herbert Volney ordered the accused, Indardaye Jagessar,  be set free. Jagessar, 57, a grandmother of  Ramroop Settlement, Mt Pleasant Road, Cunupia, was charged with killing her husband Godhan Jagessar, on May 3, 2001, at their Cunupia home. The police contended she had hired two men to kill her  husband. They are before  the court charged with murder. 

The couple slept in separate rooms and on the morning of May 4, 2002, Jagessar was found in his bed with a knife stuck in his chest. Sgt Cyril Harry investigated the matter and arrested Jagessar’s wife at the Port-of-Spain Central Market. She is alleged to have given a statement to the police implicating herself in the unlawful killing of her husband after some 17 hours in police custody. Jagessar was also represented by  Prakash Ramadhar,  Ravi Rajcoomar and Vish Rambaran. After Lalla’s submission, senior State prosecutor Jeron Joseph, informed Justice Volney he could not counter the submissions and  as a result the State would not be offering any further evidence against Jagessar. When Jagessar left the Port-of-Spain First Criminal Court, she was hugged and kissed by her daughters and relatives. She denied having anything to do with her husband’s death.

Freed of killing her husband
‘I would do anything to have him back’

By KHRYSTAL RAWLINS

With tears in her eyes, Indardaye Jagessar watched as her eldest grand-child, seven-year-old Shivani came out of the school bus. Shivani had just come from school. It had been a sight that her grandmother, 53-year-old Jagessar had longed to see since her three-year incarceration. As Shivani ran up to Jagessar, the two hugged and kissed each other, unable to let go. Jagessar was back with her family once more at her Cunupia home. It had been mere moments since Jagessar arrived home from the Port-of-Spain High Court, freed of the charge of murdering her husband, Godhan Jagessar on May 3, 2001. Quite eager to speak to Newsday about how she felt upon her release, Jagessar was adamant that she did not want to touch on the details during her imprisonment.

“Right now all I feeling is a pain in my chest. Since the judge tell me that I am a free woman, I in a state of shock,” said Jagessar. “Turning to her daughter Shala Prabhoo, Jagessar asked, “I really free? Tell me, I really free girl?” All Jagessar would tell Newsday is that she was happy to be with her family once more. “I just want to put the incident behind me and move on with my life. I miss my husband dearly, and I would give anything to have him back. “But what happened yesterday, I want to forget, and just plan to make life better for me and the rest of my family.” With her release exactly a week from the Divali celebration, the devoted Hindu woman left the interview with Newsday for a short period and took a few moments in prayer. “All I want to do is just spend time with my children and grandchildren for that day. I missed everyone when I was in prison, but what I missed the most was my grandchildren.

I cried for days. I think about them all the time, and I cry so much I had to get counselling,” Jagessar recalled. She then paused to listen to a story from her five-year-old grandson, Kris who told her about another boy at school and how much they played. Jagessar looked on with a bright smile, and gave her undivided attention. “I still feeling like I dreaming. I was in prison for so long and none of my grandchildren forget me. Is like they feel I went to America and come back home,” she said. When asked about how the family felt to have Jagessar back home, Jagessar’s daughter told Newsday “We are all happy to have her home. We haven’t really been able to put the incident behind us, but we will have to work on it. It was tough times with both parents, so is plenty work we have to do.”