Latest update May 25th, 2026 12:35 AM
Berbice woman ordered to pay $60,000 after refusing to testify in husband abuse case
(Kaieteur News) – A 20-year-old woman from East Canje, Berbice, who had accused her husband of domestic abuse, was ordered to pay $60,000 after she refused to present evidence against him, resulting in the case being dismissed for wasting the court’s time.
Joanna Ramoutar and her husband Karran Sukhan
The woman, Joanna Ramoutar, of Lot 143, Number Two Village, East Canje, appeared before Magistrate Michelle Matthias at the Reliance Magistrate’s Court, where she declined to testify against her husband, 25-year-old businessman Karran Sukhan. As a result, the court dismissed all three charges, assault causing actual bodily harm, use of threatening language, and threatening behaviour, and ordered Ramoutar to pay $20,000 for each charge.
The case stemmed from allegations Ramoutar made in June, when she took to Facebook to reveal that she had been enduring years of physical and emotional abuse from Sukhan. In her post, she pleaded for authorities to intervene, saying she feared for her life. Following her social media appeal, police arrested Sukhan the next day, and he was charged with the three offences mentioned.
Sukhan made his first court appearance on June 13 before Magistrate Matthias, where he pleaded not guilty and was remanded to prison. Ten days later, on June 23, Attorney-at-Law Charlyn Artiga successfully applied for bail, which was set at $50,000 for the assault charge and $30,000 each for the other two offences.
However, during a recent hearing, Ramoutar informed the court that she no longer wished to testify and asked that her husband be given a warning instead. After confirming that she was not being threatened or coerced, the magistrate dismissed the case and imposed the $60,000 cost for wasting judicial time.
In her earlier Facebook post, Ramoutar, who is a mother of two, had detailed years of alleged abuse, stating, “In October 2018, I began a relationship with him. By March 2019, the abuse started. It began with slaps and then escalated to brutal, life-threatening violence. He kicked me in the stomach, stomped on my head, and beat me repeatedly. Over the years, the violence only worsened.”
She said she eventually escaped with help from her family and sought justice and protection for herself and her children. Her post prompted swift action from the Guyana Police Force, which launched an investigation, and from the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, which dispatched a specialised team from its Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Policy Unit (SO&DVPU) to provide support and intervention.
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