A young fisherman of Number 60 Village, Corentyne Berbice is in Police custody after he set fire to the house he shared with his wife and two children and then attempted to commit suicide Sunday.
Urmilla Bujbhukan, 20, called ‘Radha’ of Lot 240 Number 60 Village and her two young children have suffered physical abuse at the hands of the man before.
She told the News Room that her husband 22-year-old Bahadur Maniram came home intoxicated and after an argument, he set the one storey wooden structure on fire.
The house was completely destroyed within minutes and the mother of two was unable to save anything; she and her two small children are left with only the clothes on their back.
Radha is now contemplating her next move since her 3-year old will start school in September.
Radha told the News Room that her husband left for work early Sunday morning but when she telephoned him at around 13:00hrs he sounded intoxicated and so she advised him to return home since he gets out of control when drunk.
But Maniram returned home with a friend and continued imbibing.
“After a while when the friend gone he start arguing that the guy owe he and then he start quarrelling on me that I should stop talking with my family and we should move and go Port Mourant,” a distraught Radha said.
To avoid any problems, she agreed, however, while on her way to the bathroom, Radha said her husband threw a beer bottle at her 3-year-old and nine-month-old baby but the bottle missed them.
She noted that this was not the first time he has hurt her and the children and alleged that he threatened to kill her several times recently.
After he threw the bottle at the children, Radha said she and her mother collected the kids and sought refuge at the house of one of her brothers.
She then saw smoke emanating from the house and her husband running outside.
He then reportedly doused himself with kerosene and attempted to go into the house but he was prevented from doing so by his in-laws.
After committing the act, the man went into the backlands and hid but was taken into custody by CPG Member, Dasratt Mohabir
Physical abuse
For the five years that they’ve been together, Radha said she has suffered abuse at the hands of her husband.
“For the past six months he nah hit me but he ah regularly threatening to kill me and that’s the main thing meh does frighten because me have two children and [I don’t want anything] to happen to them and it’s not like he does threaten me alone; he does behave in a very horrible way with children”.
She noted about nine months ago he beat her with a cutlass and even attempted to hurt her then one-month-old daughter.
Radha is pleading for assistance from the public to rebuild her house and her life. She can be reached on telephone numbers 610-8571 or 6183746.
