Mother who spoke out about abuse fined $60k for refusing to testify

A young mother who sought help after enduring years of abuse has been fined a total of $60,000 after refusing to testify against her husband.

In June of this year, Joanna Ramoutar posted on social media, claiming that she had faced six years of abuse from her husband, 25-year-old Karran Sukhan, a businessman from Lot 143, Number 2 Village, East Canje, Berbice. She stated that she had been living in fear.

When the case was recently called at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court, before Magistrate Michelle Matthias, she was asked to give evidence.

Ramoutar declined to give evidence and instead, requested that the court issue a warning to Sukhan. She stated that if the father of her children continued to abuse her, she would seek police intervention.

After confirming that she had not been offered any compensation or threatened in any way to withdraw her testimony, Police Prosecutor Sergeant Sherry Williams called on the court to impose a fine on Ramoutar for wasting the court’s time. The magistrate then imposed a fine of $20,000 for each of the three charges Sukhan faced.

Sukhan was arrested in June and charged with assault causing actual bodily harm, using threatening language, and exhibiting threatening behaviour. He was initially remanded to prison but later released on pre-trial liberty after his attorney, Charlyn Artiga, successfully petitioned the court. Bail was set at $50,000 for the assault charge and $30,000 for each of the other two charges.