Mother of three found dead with head in bucket
- husband “confesses” after first claiming suicide
A 31-year-old man has reportedly admitted to killing his 25-year-old reputed wife, whose body,
Shelly Persaud and husband
with head partly submerged in a bucket of water, was found outside the couple’s Friendship, East Bank Demerara home at around 02.00 hrs yesterday.
Shelly Persaud, a housewife and mother of three, was found at the bottom of the back stairs of the Lot 34 residence. Her head was in a five-gallon bucket that contained just a little water.
The victim’s reputed husband had reportedly told her father, whom he had summoned to the scene, that he had found his spouse in that position at around 02.00 hrs.
Orin Morris, the dead woman’s father, said that the son-in-law had suggested that his daughter committed suicide after the couple had argued over her husband coming home drunk.
But indications are that the ‘suicide’ was staged and Kaieteur News understands that the reputed husband has since admitted to causing Persaud’s demise while under the influence of alcohol.
Kaieteur News understands that the couple’s eight-year-old daughter has told relatives that she heard her parents arguing some time Saturday night. The child reportedly also claimed to have seen her father beating her mother and pulling her hair while saying, “tonight is the last night you will see your mother.”
The victim’s father lives a short distance away, and he told Kaieteur News that his son-in law came over to his home at around 02.00 hrs and said that “she (Shelly Persaud) dead and she head deh in a bucket of water.”
On arriving at the couple’s home, Morris said that he saw his daughter in a half-sitting position at the bottom of the back steps. Her head was submerged in a five-gallon bucket which was partly filled with water.
According to the slain woman’s father, his son-in-law claimed that he came home drunk at around 23.00 hrs on Saturday and that Shelly Persaud had said,” you drunk, you sleep in the back room,”. The housewife reportedly then slept in another room with the couple’s children, aged eight, four and two. The son-in-law reportedly said that he awoke at around 02.00 hrs yesterday and it was then that he found Persaud’s body.
“He tell me she commit suicide, but from the way I see she, I know that no big woman can’t kill sheself in a bucket of water like that,” Mr. Morris said. From his observations, his daughter had suffered severe injuries to her neck.
Orin Morris points to the spot where his daughter’s body was found.
The father told Kaieteur News that he eventually called the police after trying in vain to revive his daughter. He said ranks from the Golden Grove/Diamond Police Station arrived some three hours later, and undertakers also came around the same time to take the body away.
While one relative said that the housewife had suffered occasional asthma attacks, her father said that those attacks had stopped a long time ago.
The man said that his daughter never indicated that she and her husband were having domestic problems. A female relative of the slain woman also said that while he drank occasionally, she had never seen Persaud’s husband display any violence towards his spouse. But Persaud had confided in her that five weeks ago he had struck her while under the influence of alcohol.
And some of Shelly Persaud’s recent Facebook postings had hinted at an unhappy relationship. In one comment she said: “You can’t keep hurting a person and expect them to continue loving you.” And in another posting a few hours before her death she wrote: “Sometimes I just want to disappear and see if anyone would miss me.”