Businessman kills sleeping wife, commits suicide

By Romila Boodram and Sunita Samaroo
The turbulent relationship of a Campbellville, Georgetown couple ended tragically early yesterday, when a 48-year-old businessman shot himself after killing his younger wife to whom he had been married for the past 15 years.

Dead are Ramdat Lokhnauth, aka Moses, and his 42-year-old wife, Siromanie aka Nadia.

The dead couple in happier times

The gruesome discovery was made around 04:30 hrs yesterday in the upper flat of the couple’s three-storey business place, R&S Enterprise, located at Garnett Street and Delph Avenue, Campbellville by the businessman’s son, Rajin and two other relatives.

It is believed that Lokhnauth shot his wife to her left ear with his .32 Taurus pistol before shooting himself to the right side of his head. Relatives said that the businessman was found lying on the bed with the gun just

below his chest.

The bloodied body of his wife was lying next to him with one of her hands resting on her husband’s abdomen. It is believed that Siromanie was asleep when she was killed.

According to reports, the 48-year-old man who was divorced three times, and Siromanie, who walked out on her first husband and children to marry the businessman, were having “serious” marital issues.

Relatives of the businessman said that Siromanie demanded a divorce and half of his wealth. Her relatives claimed that the 48-year-old man was “seeing” someone else and had asked his wife for a divorce.

The couple had no children together and they were living in separate homes for the past several months.

Kaieteur News was told that for the past three months, the businesswoman was staying with her two children in the United States of America but came here on Wednesday after her husband called and requested she come to “sign some documents.”
Scene
Yesterday, this newspaper was told by the security guard on duty, Rohit Persaud, that about 03:00hrs yesterday, his employer called out to him from the upper flat of the property and let down the keys for the house in a basket.
He added that Lokhnauth seemed “normal’ when he asked him to give his son, Rajin the keys. The guard said that around 04:30hrs, the businessman’s son and some relatives arrived at the business entity and collected the keys.
The dead woman’s sister, Valenie Persaud, said that the businessman called his son some time after 03:00hrs and told him that he and his wife had a fight and that he should collect his uncle and come to the home as soon as possible.

“When they go in, a little later all I hear is scream and they start crying and one of them come tell me that them (couple) dead,” the guard said.

The couple’s body was discovered in the upper flat of this three-storey building.

The now dead man had left a voice note on his son’s phone early yesterday, expressing his love for his wife. “He said that he loves his wife and he made a mistake and he don’t think she is going to give him a second chance and if he don’t get her then nobody else can’t,” a relative stressed.
Another relative of the dead man, Joseph Lewis, said that the businesswoman had filed for a divorce a few months back.
“The grounds that she used was that she can’t cope with his children but his three children are married and living by themselves.”
Kaieteur News was told that Siromanie demanded to have a large amount of money which her husband didn’t have at that time.

“She wanted him to sell this place but he can’t do it so he told her that he will go through the bank and take a loan and give it to her.”

According to Lewis, “She say she will sign the paper when they reach the bank and exchange the settlement. He (Moses) really loved her. Although they were going through the divorce he did his best to have her back.”
This newspaper understands that when Lokhnauth applied to the bank two weeks ago for the loan, he called Lewis and told him that he will travel to the States and give his wife the money and beg her for another chance.
“He told me that he will tell her that money is not the issue and that he will go to her and give her the money and tell her that he will buy a house over there so that they could live there,” Lewis stated.

Lokhnauth would call the bank daily to find out about his loan application but was told that it is processing, Lewis said.
“Two days ago, he received a letter from the bank that the application was denied.”

He added that the businessman called his wife and asked her to travel to Guyana so that they both can go into the back to reapply for the loan.

The dead woman’s sister, Valenie Persaud

“She agreed and come. They went to lunch, dinner and so and like they agree to give their marriage a second change because they went to the pastor to seek counseling. They were suppose to go to a resort in Essequibo today (yesterday).”
Lokhnauth was going though some “tough” time with his business. “He has a lot of debts; he was now coming out of it but his wife couldn’t understand that,” a relative said.

A friend of Lokhnauth said, “This building has a second mortgage and for documentation purposes she is part of the loan. But she wanted more money than they agreed to. Moses has been complaining and nagging for weeks because he trying to tell her he can’t make it and she isn’t accepting it.”

The businessman’s friend added that he had even started drinking and smoking as a result of the impending divorce.
Other friends of Moses who visited the scene said that Moses worked his way up from a shop in the market. “I sense this boy Moses was provoked. She was just evil. Money fly to she head. She just vicious.”
Workers of a nearby business entity said that on Thursday morning loud wails were heard coming from the home. The workers said that they heard Lokhnauth crying loudly and repeatedly begging “Ah love yuh.”

There are reports that the businessman had received information that his wife had been receiving flowers from someone. Some suggested that this might have been the cause for him killing his wife and committing suicide.
Meanwhile, the dead woman’s sister, Valenie Persaud gave a different version of the story. She described her sister as a “family person” and not as someone who would walk out of her marriage.

According to Persaud, three months ago her brother-in-law, Lokhnauth, asked her sister for a divorce and requested that she leave the home.
“She was in a very abusive relationship. He always nags at her for no reason. I think he was seeing someone else and he ask her to leave but three months later, when he realized that he cannot run the business alone, he keep begging her to come home back and she fell for it.”
“She abandoned her children for him,” the sister added.
Investigations are ongoing.