The Story Within The Story… A mother is dead because of terrible lapse

Aug 12, 2018 News

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By Leonard Gildarie

Guyana has descended into madness when it comes to domestic violence. There can be no explanation, and the situation warrants a clarion call for immediate action, with the matter debated in Parliament.

If there is ever a need for a Commission of Inquiry, the unspeakable pain of the little ones – and I am not sure I call them survivors – should be enough to administer the injection to get our lawmakers to act.

To say I am shocked at the silence from the powers that be and the advocacy bodies would be an understatement. This past week, according to Kaieteur News, residents converged on a home in the Kilcoy/Chesney area upon hearing about a killing.

The news spread like wildfire.

An Albion estate labourer at Lot 101 Chesney New Scheme, Corentyne, Berbice, brutally murdered his wife of 15 years.
Dead is Rohini ‘Sabrina’ Lakhan, 29, a housewife. Her husband, a canecutter, 42, is said to be the killer. He used his cutlass. He later committed the ultimate act on himself.

The couple had three children – ages 14, eight and six.

According to the report, Ramdeen was an abuser, accusing his wife of infidelity.

We are not here today to debate the truth of the accusations. We are not here today to blame the woman. There is absolutely no excuse for violence in the marital home. If you can’t stand the heat in the kitchen, and the only option after counseling is divorce or separation, so be it.

According to the news reports, the couple earlier in the day attended the Albion Magistrate’s Court for a domestic violence matter. A protection order was secured against the husband, Ramesh Ramdeen. The woman wanted out of the home that they shared together. The man was also ordered to pay $5,000 for each child.

The report said that a female police rank and sister of the dead woman escorted the woman to the home to pick up her belongings.

Here is where the story got strange. The police woman and the sister left Lakhan alone in the home.

Now, I am sure that it is an established protocol for a police rank or ranks to escort someone, who has a protective order, to a home for safety reasons to pick up his or her belongings.

Here is the problem. Why did the female rank leave? Was she asked to by the dead woman or was she summoned to pursue other duties by her superiors?

If she was told by Lakhan to leave, was the female rank’s decision in conflict with the procedures of the police force? I rather suspect it is.

Let us examine the facts. The court granted a protective order. The woman wanted to collect her stuff. The only compelling reason, therefore, for a police escort, is for protection of that woman.

The persons who drafted that regulation or policy, or whatever you want to call it, were very clear in their minds when they contemplated what could happen if someone, a victim, enters the home of the abuser without protection.

Therefore, if it is that the argument is that the rank was assured that she could leave and there was not threat, then the decision of the said rank to leave is totally wrong.

One can even venture and suggest she breached the policies of the Police Force by leaving.

If this is the case, we need to examine if this is symptomatic of the entire police force and take the necessary steps to correct the situation.

Our policemen and women, similar to our public servants and parliamentarians, have to be reminded often of their duties, mandates and responsibilities.

It is hard to think that a woman just granted a protection order would visit a home of her husband without police escort.

The statements of the family, her mom to be specific, corroborate this angle. Her daughter was in fear during a phone call. The distraught woman could not reach her daughter on the phone after that. The terrible news followed.

Let me say that the escorting of prisoners, the taking of reports, the visits to homes and scenes of crimes are all routine business for our police ranks.

What makes this story and others like it even worse is the silence of the churches, mandirs and mosques. The human rights people are not saying anything. This is a human rights issue, folks.

I feel for those kids who are now without a mom. The older folks will tell you, ‘who feels it, knows it’. You have to be there walking in the shoes of the young ones. Not knowing your mom and dad. Not ever meeting them again.

Would counseling have helped? Could we have avoided the tragedy? It is debatable.

What is certain is that we have become immune to this domestic violence madness and we treat it as just another day.

The police have said that they are investigating why the female police rank left.

We fight over what our politicians say and forget that the vulnerable live right next door to us. I am in despair about our silence.

 

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