A 42-year-old woman of No.64 Village, Upper Corentyne, Berbice is fighting to stay alive and was given a 50/50 per cent chance of survival after she was set on fire by her husband some three weeks ago.
Hospitalised in a critical state at the Georgetown Public Hospital is Tavita Lall, a sweeper/cleaner of the Tagore Memorial Secondary School.
The woman’s mother Bamela Lall told reporters that doctors had to remove her daughter’s breasts because of the extensive damage sustained due; she is burnt from the face to toes.
The distraught mother explained that her daughter had an argument with the accused, Dipnarine Seelall and later on that day, while preparing dinner, he doused her with a jar of kerosene as she was lighting a match for the stove.
According to Bamela, her daughter has four children and has been living with the accused for the past two years but throughout that time, she suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of the man when he consumes alcohol.
It was during one of those incidents that Lall was beaten in the head with a pot by the man, forcing her to seek medical attention.
Bamela told the News Room that she pleaded with her daughter to end the relationship many times but she never listened.
But Lall appeared to have made up her mind three weeks ago to end the relationship and told her mother of the decision.
“She told me ‘mommy, we gonna end it today’ and I told her I don’t want to hear because you not listening to me.”
When her daughter went home, she met a drunk Seelall who accused her of having an affair and then set her on fire.
Bamela said it was the neighbours who heard the woman screaming and when they rushed over, the accused had locked the injured woman in the house and escaped.
The neighbours were forced to kick down the door to rescue her; they rushed her to the Skeldon Hospital where she was referred to the New Amsterdam Hospital and subsequently transferred to the Georgetown Hospital with severe burns about her body.
The News Room understands that Seelall was subsequently caught and charged; he is currently on remand for the incident.
Meanwhile, Bamela said the entire incident has taken a toll on her and Lall’s children; she is also financially burdened since they are “poor people.”
Bamela has to travel to Georgetown daily and it adds up to $8,000 per day in travel expenses alone.
“Whatever money people give me, that is what I use and go see she, because is me alone. Me go for the surgery and me might go back till weekend if we get money,” the distraught mother said.
Bamela is willing to accept help from those desirous of assisting. Persons can contact her on 644 – 2035.
