Property dispute leads to murder Woman admits she paid to kill husband – Killer wanted the money to visit overseas girlfriend
POLICE will soon lay charges against an East Bank Demerara woman who has confessed to getting her husband killed over a property dispute.
Block-maker Nathan Persaud, 42, was reportedly hammered and stabbed to death Thursday morning at his Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, home. The man who carried out the gruesome murder and causally walked away, it has been revealed, was sent by the man’s estranged wife.
Gwendolyn Persaud of Diamond Housing Scheme yesterday morning confessed to police investigators that she hired a hitman to kill her husband with whom she was going through a divorce.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum confirmed to this publication that the woman detailed to police how she met the young man and offered to give him a sum he could not refuse. He thus agreed to eliminate her ex-husband over a property dispute.
The woman came into contact with the “hitman” after he had visited her home to see her niece. It turn out that the niece’s best friend, who lives in a Caribbean island, is in a relationship with the hired killer.
“The hitman,” who’s only name was given as “Jason,” spoke of his desire to go surprise his girlfriend, and even suggested that the niece could also come along. The only problem was the money to get there.
And that’s where Persaud came in. She overheard the conversation and quickly thought of a plan and how she can benefit from the man’s yearning to secure cash to travel to the Caribbean island.
The woman then approached the man and told him that she could assist him with travelling to the country to surprise his girlfriend for her birthday, but that he needed to kill someone for her. She however never told the young man of how much she was willing to pay to get the job done.
She reportedly told the hitman that she has undertaken divorce proceedings against her husband over the fact that he was abusive to her, and that a property was also at the centre of their dispute.
Persaud reportedly told the young man that she worked very hard to secure the property that she was living in and that her husband was trying to take it away from her through the courts. She also related to him that her husband recently told her that he will win the court case and when he does he will ensure that she is left on the streets.
That threat apparently got to the woman and she began to allow it to be a bother her to the point where she began exploring ways and means to ensure that the property remains hers as she was living there.
The woman told the “hitman” that she is very scared to lose the home as she has nowhere to go. Her pleas reportedly softened the man who agreed to take the job, although he was not told how much money he would be getting.
The woman then provided the young man with the instructions on how go about the job. He visited her home where he was given directions and instructions. He was also strictly informed not to visit the home when the man’s children were at home and thus a specific time was given for him to go into the Herstelling community where the man lived.
Persaud told her ex-husband’s killer that she would be getting the money up for him after the job is completed.
After he killed the man on Thursday, he returned to the home of the woman where she informed him that she did not have the money as yet and requested some time to acquire the funds. That, however, was not done as she was arrested by the police along with her niece on Friday.
The police placed her as a suspect after they learnt of the property dispute.
The woman was in the habit of talking to customers of the taxi service which rents a part of the property.
It was revealed that her husband had offered her some assets, but she was demanding everything 50/50.
A post-mortem Friday revealed that Nathan Persaud sustained 13 wounds to the head and another seven to the back, including a stab wound to the chest.
From the very inception, relatives did not suspect a robbery in the death of the man as the home was not seen to be ransacked when the body was discovered.
This is the second such high- profile murder to be solved by the police within a month where the motives were similar.
In August, the police cracked a case that many thought was heading to the cold case shelf where a pensioner was murdered in her home after a hitman was reportedly paid to eliminate her and secure documents to her property.
That case was cracked wide open after the suspect was caught after almost three weeks on the run. He told investigators why he committed the act and also implicated one of the dead woman’s sons and another man whose name was not provided.
In that investigation the police had also arrested a businessman from the community in relation to the incident.
Shortly after that the police in Berbice also cracked another case. This time, a husband was arrested for murdering his wife and blaming the killing on an intruder. The man’s story did sound convincing at first even as he called for the police to ensure that they find the killers of his reputed wife.
The police were able to find out that he was the person who shot his wife dead and also sought to mislead investigators.
Gunpowder residue was also found on his body and the statements that he provided the police with immediately after the shooting were riddled with inaccuracies.
By Leroy Smith
