Teen recalls horrors of seeing dad fatally attacked by cousin

Jun 12, 2018 News

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A 17-year-old girl recalled the horrific scene at Skull City in Patentia, West Bank Demerara, where her father was allegedly stabbed to death by her cousin and her cousin’s reputed husband.
Zalina Ramsundar was called to testify yesterday in the trial of her cousin, Vishwantie Ragnauth, called ‘Shelly’ and her cousin’s reputed husband, Nyron Thakurdyal, called ‘One Eye’, who are accused of the 2014 Boxing Day murder of her father, Sunil Ramsundar.
The two murder accused have retained Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes.
In her opening remarks, Prosecutor Orinthia Schmidt told the court that Ramsundar is an uncle of Ragnauth, the number one accused in the murder trial.

The Prosecutor said that on the day in question, there was a family problem, which resulted in an altercation between Ramsundar and his niece.
According to the prosecutor,, Ragnauth held onto her uncle, Sunil Ramsundar, whilst her reputed husband stabbed him with a knife. The prosecutor also revealed that the woman also stabbed her uncle.
Ramsundar sustained injuries and was pronounced dead at the hospital, the Prosecutor added.
After stepping into the witness box from where she took an oath to tell the truth, Zalina who was just 14 when her father died, told the court that Vishwantie is a cousin of hers. The young girl said that she and her father visited a shop at around 20:00hrs on December 26, 2014.
It was at this point, that the young witness broke down in tears and from all indication; it was after she saw her cousin and her cousin’s reputed husband seated alongside each other in the prisoner’s dock.
The witness fought hard to maintain her composure and was directed by the judge to step out of the witness box. Once she had finished wiping away her tears, Zalina stepped back into the witness box from where she continued telling the jurors what transpired on that fateful day.
Zalina said that her father was ‘gaffing’ at the shop when his sister emerged from a passage way crying. She further said that her father inquired from his sister why she was crying and she told him something.
Zalina added that her father then queried why Nyron (the number two murder accused) “beat up” his sister. The teenager said that some time after, her cousin (Vishwantie) who is also known as ‘Shelly’ came out of a passageway and an argument ensued between her and her father.
Questioned by Prosecutor Schmidt as to why her father was arguing with her cousin, Zalina told the court that they were arguing because Nyron had beaten up her father’s sister.
A while after Shelly and Nyron went home and about three minutes after, the now dead man came back, and he was in the passageway by himself, the witness recalled her father was quarreling about the incident between his sister and Nyron.
According to Zalina, while her father was in the passageway her cousin came out and pushed her father and a scuffle started between them. “When (Shelly) pushed my father, my father braced her to the fence.”
The witness explained that Shelly began fighting back and during that time, Nyron ran out from the passageway. Nyron, she said, held onto her father’s hands and Shelly began cuffing her father in a back and forth motion. Zalina told the court that she ran away while Nyron was cuffing her father.
She stated that it was not long after that a little boy told her, “They just bore up yuh father.” She said that from where she was standing, she saw her father collapsed to the ground. When she went closer to the scene, Zalina said that her father, whose jersey was covered in blood, was braced onto a fence.
Also testifying was Police Sergeant Detective Krishnadat Singh who is currently stationed at the Leonora Police Station, West Coast Demerara. Sergeant Singh testified that during separate interviews with Ragnauth and Thakurdyal, they both denied killing Ragnauth.
The police witness recounted that on December 27, 2014, he put a murder allegation to Ragnauth and she replied, “Me and Sunil pull one another. Me nah know how he get bore. Nyron part we.”
The detective said that he put a similar allegation to Thakurdyal and he responded, “Officer, me and Vishwantie nah murder Sunil. All she do ah push he and me push them away.”
Under cross-examination by Hughes, Sergeant Singh admitted that during investigations into the murder, he received certain information about the knife, which was allegedly used to stab Ramsundar.
The defence counsel Hughes asked the sergeant if he sent the alleged murder weapon for analysis, the police witness told the court that he instructed a junior rank to do same.
The witness, however, admitted that he did not inquire from the two murder accused whether they were armed with a knife at the time of the incident.
This trial is continuing.

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