Family gathering ruined by murder

A family gathering turned sour on Boxing Day when one relative stabbed another after the deceased slapped his reputed wife. Dead is Rabindra Sookhoo, 24, of Lot 152 Bellvue, West Bank Demerara. He succumbed at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre to a single stab wound to the left side of his chest delivered by his reputed wife’s brother-in-law. Wife of the dead man, Savitri Singh, 21, related to Guyana Times International that she, her two sons, and reputed husband of five years went to Diamond to visit her mother, Narainie Narine, for a family gathering. Sookhoo and the alleged killer – Kevin — her brother-in-law, and her father were imbibing alcohol earlier in the day. 

At around 19:30hrs, the woman recounted, they were preparing to leave for home when her two-year-old son refused to put on his footwear. Singh said Sookhoo became angry and pushed the child down, who then started crying. When she enquired as to his reason for pushing the child, her reputed husband dealt her a slap, and Singh’s brother-in-law Kevin intervened, but Sookhoo threatened him. “He ask he (Sookhoo) why he slap me, and me husband ask if he want do something.” 

At this point, Singh said, her reputed husband and Kevin started fighting in the upstairs of the house. “After me take them children and run downstairs, all me see is he throw his shirt and boots down, and when he come down he hold he chest.” 

Bleeding profusely from the single wound, Sookhoo was rushed to the Diamond Diagnostic Hospital, where health personnel tried feverishly to save his life. “He hold me hand and he tell me that pain too much, and he hand cold, cold,” Singh related in tears. She added that, before an ambulance arrived from the Georgetown Hospital, “Like he near give up, and I see a set of blood pitch up and I couldn’t bear it anymore.” 

The alleged assailant managed to escape, and the family said that when they went to make a report at the Diamond Police Station, although there was transportation, no officer was present to go to the crime scene save for two clerical officers. Sookhoo, this newspaper learnt, is the fourth of five siblings, and worked as a carpenter to maintain his mother and his family. Singh, who is unemployed, is now left to ponder how to maintain her two sons: Ryan, three, and Robin, two. 

The deceased was described by his sister, Radica Budram, as a very quiet person. This death is the second in the family in months. Only four months ago, Sookhoo’s father passed away. 

The dead man’s mother, Chandrawattie Sookhoo, was inconsolable when this newspaper visited. She told Guyana Times International that her son’s death and the circumstances under which he died were too much for her to bear. She added that she was calling on the police to act quickly to apprehend the suspect.