Woman set on fire by husband dies

The Berbice woman who was set on fire reportedly by her husband last Sunday succumbed to her injuries on Saturday night in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the New Amsterdam Hospital.

Dead is Sandrama Raju, a mother of one. Her father, Subramani Raju told the News Room that he received a telephone call from the hospital stating that his daughter died at approximately 19:00 hrs. When the News Room spoke to the father he had just arrived at the hospital with his son and a few close friends.

Raju said he, his wife and son visited Sandrama earlier in the day (16:00 hrs) but she had stopped talking. It wasn’t long after they left the institution that they got the dreadful news.

Regional Commander, Jairam Ramlakhan in an invited comment, said a murder charge will be re-instituted on the suspect Ganeshwar Sheocharran.

“We will now have to have a [Post Mortem] done, send back for advice and the charge will have to be upgraded on his next court date”, Ramlakhan said.

Ganeshwar Sheocharran, 27 of lot 16 Miss Pheobe, Port Mourant, Corentyne, Berbice appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court 7 before Magistrate Clive Nurse on Friday charged with attempted murder of Raju; they were married for six years.

He was not required to plea to the charge and was remanded to prison until October 06, 2021.

Police reported that the couple was engaged in an argument during which Raju threw kerosene on her body. It is alleged that Sewcharran took a lighter and lit the bottom of her dress.

The woman managed to extinguish the fire by rolling on the ground; by that time, however, she received burns to 98% of her body.

After the incident, Sewcharran attempted to flee the country and booked a flight to the United States of America and managed to board an American Airlines at 17:26hrs on Tuesday, September 14.

Relatives alerted the police to the escape bid and the authorities in the US were contacted; Crime Chief Wendell Blannum in a statement said that once Sewcharran landed in the U.S, he was denied entry and sent back on a flight to Guyana where he was arrested and placed in custody.

Relatives have since come forward and alleged that Raju suffered years of abuse at the hands of her husband.