Rice farmer released on station bail for wife’s murder

Deceased: Hansranie Sewdat

Police in Berbice say rice farmer Roy Persaud, 70, is the prime suspect in the murder of his common-law wife Hansranie Sewdat, 39, who was found on the floor of their house with her throat slit around 16:30h last Friday in No 48 Village, Corentyne.

The couple had lived there for about 13 years and has a nine-year-old daughter, Vishwanie Persaud.

This publication understands that Persaud who was detained for questioning since the incident was subsequently released on station bail pending further investigations.

A post-mortem examination of Sewdat is expected later this week.

The deceased was found on the floor of the upper flat of the house by Vishwanie who returned with her father from the rice fields on Friday afternoon. One relative of the deceased said when he arrived on the scene, having travelled from Black Bush Polder, he was allowed by the police to view the body as it laid on the floor of the house. He recalled that there appeared to be froth coming from Sewdat’s mouth while there was a wound on her throat which was wrapped with a cloth.

The half-brother of the deceased, Mohanlall Mukerjee, of No 12 Village, West Coast Berbice told the media on Monday that a wake is being kept at the Bath Settlement residence of a sibling, while other relatives in Black Bush Polder have been keeping a vigil also. When the police hands over the body, a funeral service would be held at her sisters’ house at Bath Settlement and burial would take place at the Bath Cemetery.

He explained that Sewdat grew up in Bath Settlement and later married and relocated to Yakusari, Black Bush Polder with her husband. That relationship yielded three children, but ended after 15 years because of a love triangle involving Persaud who had employed Sewdat’s husband to work in his rice fields.

When Sewdat’s husband learnt about the affair, she left her husband and three children behind in Black Bush Polder for a life with Persaud who himself parted with his wife and family. The two lived well until about four years ago when things became sour.

Mukerjee stated that the very comfortable life Sewdat once enjoyed disappeared and a very abrasive and harsh domestic situation emerged. He stated that most times the couple would row about money and Sewdat even took Persaud to court to regain about Gy$2 million, proceeds of the sale of a property her father had given her.

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