Woman’s head crushed by truck driven by husband

May 03, 2010 News

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– husband claims suicide, relatives suspect murder

Fourteen turbulent years of marriage ended tragically with the mysterious death of 30-year old Bridgette Gangandeen, whose mangled body was discovered outside the Vigilance Police Station compound early yesterday morning.
Gangadeen of Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, appeared to have been crushed by the rear wheel of a Canter truck that was being driven by her husband, Dwarka Gangadeen, who is presently in police custody.
Police in a press release said that they are investigating a suspected murder but from reports given by the dead woman’s husband, she was crushed to death after jumping from the moving truck.
However, some of the woman’s relatives have added some mystery to the tragedy by claiming that the woman was murdered and her body dumped in front of the station.
The fact that Dwarka Gangadeen called Dave, a popular grasstrack motorcyclist, fled the scene and had to be hunted down by the police added to the mystery.

Kaieteur News understands that the couple had attended a nightspot in Enmore on Saturday night.
While there, Dwarka Gangadeen received a call on his cellular phone.
This aroused his wife’s suspicions and the couple began to argue.
They eventually left for home where they continued their argument.
It is alleged that at around 02:00 hours, Dwarka Gangadeen received a call from a friend to take part in an early morning fishing expedition in Enterprise, a few miles away.
As he was about to leave the house with his Canter truck, his wife reportedly tried to prevent him, thinking that he was going to meet another woman.
When her protests failed, she joined the truck leaving their two sons alone at home.
Despite his wife’s presence in the vehicle, Dwarka Gangadeen allegedly proceeded towards Enterprise all the while arguing with his wife.
He told investigators that during the journey, his wife constantly threatened to jump from the moving truck.
As they approached the Vigilance Police Station the woman reportedly made good of her threat and after opening the passenger side door of the truck’s cabin, she jumped from the moving vehicle.
Her husband told detectives that he felt the rear wheel of his truck run over the woman’s body.
However, he claimed that he panicked and drove away from the scene, leaving his wife clinging to life.
Ranks at the Vigilance Police Station were at first unaware that the woman’s body was lying outside the compound.
One female rank told Kaieteur News that she saw Gangadeen’s truck driving past and wondered where he was heading at that hour of the morning.
It was not until some other commuters went into the station and informed the ranks that a woman’s body was lying outside that they went into action.
Dwarka Gangandeen said that after the incident he went back home and parked his Canter truck and then headed to Enterprise, where he hid until he was located by the police.
When asked why he did not render any assistance to his wife who was obviously badly injured, he claimed that he panicked and went to his friends in enterprise and tried to get them to go to the scene.
“I feel when I run over she but I panicked and call some friends fuh go and carry she to the hospital,” he told investigators.
But relatives of the dead woman are certain that she was the victim of foul play.
According to the dead woman’s mother, Punerbattie Bharat, the couple had a tumultuous relationship, involving several fights and temporary separation.
Bharrat told Kaieteur News that Gangadeen had threatened to kill his wife on several occasions, even threatening to harm other family members.
“Since dem married dem nah live good. Everytime she go away, she ah come back. She go Suriname and he ah go till ah Suriname fuh bring she back,” Bharat said.
The woman said that when she received a call from the police station yesterday she immediately sensed that something was wrong with her daughter.
“Me been and look she yesterday and she been on the bed, she nah feel good because she and she husband had some problems. She been go away fuh couple a days and the husband de beg me fuh she come back,” Bharat said.
But she was not prepared for the sight of her daughter lying on the roadway under a blood stained sheet.
“I know is he kill she. He always say he go kill she and me and me other daughter,” Bharat told this newspaper.
She related that last week her daughter suffered a beating at the hands of her husband and a woman who has a child for him.
But detectives appear to be inclined to believe the husband’s story after retrieving hair samples from the left side rear wheel of his truck and not finding any evidence of blood in the cabin.
They are also focusing on the fact that there was a huge pool of blood where the dead woman’s body lay, which almost convinced them that the woman died at that spot.
The police have indicated that they are awaiting the post mortem examination of Gangadeen’s body before seeking the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution.

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