The father of Marceline Basdeo- Small, the wife of the alleged killer of teenager Neesa Gopaul, defended his daughter’s reputation, saying that she was an unfortunate victim in a very sad story.
During an October 7 telephone interview with this newspaper, Edward Basdeo said that his daughter was a “very compassionate person”. “She is a very trusting person, and believed her husband,” he said.
Basdeo- Small, who is a manager at the Guyana Water Inc, and was released from police custody on Tuesday, reportedly denied any involvement in the beheading of the teenager.
Edward Basdeo told this newspaper that on Sunday, after Neesa’s body was discovered in a creek at Emerald Tower off the Linden/ Soesdyke Highway, Shareema Gopaul, the teen’s mother, who was having an affair with his daughter’s husband, Barry Small, called Marceline. Gopaul reportedly asked Basdeo- Small to “give her sympathy”, since Neesa died. Although they were not friends, Basdeo said, the women knew each other, for they went to the same gym.
His daughter, he said, was aware that her husband was cheating, and tried to file for divorce, but Small attempted a reconciliation. However, he said, Gopaul refused to let go of the relationship with Small, which began while his daughter was pregnant with the couple’s second child.
Gopaul allegedly threatened that “there would be problems if Barry left her”. Basdeo, who knows Shareema Gopaul well, accused her of being very cruel to Neesa.
He added that his daughter felt sympathy for the child after she was chopped on her palm between the thumb and index finger. Basdeo claimed Neesa had related to Marceline that her mother was cruel to her, and had inflicted the wound. He alleged that when the child was questioned as to why she did not report the matter to the police, Neesa said her mother would kill her. This incident, Basdeo alleged, happened a month ago.
However, the dead teen’s aunt, Sally Redman, told this newspaper that during last month, a fight broke out between the teen’s mother and Small, and Neesa tried to prevent the two from stabbing each other and ended up being injured.
Redman alleged that Basdeo- Small was aware of some of the sexual and physical abuse meted out to Neesa by her husband. She said that on one occasion, when the teen and her younger sister were home alone, Basdeo- Small gave Neesa a cellular phone to make contact with her, but relatives later found the phone and hid it.
Speaking about the phone, Basdeo said his daughter gave Neesa the phone so she could call her if her mother hit her again, so she could render assistance.
Comments are closed.