TRINIDAD GUARDIAN  – A turbulent relationship ended in tragedy Friday after a California man slit his wife’s throat then committed suicide.
They have been identified as Sohanie Ramsundar and Arjoon Balkaran, both Guyanese nationals.
The couple’s 15-year-old son, Moneswar ‘Rocky’ Darka, returned home at lunchtime Friday and found his mother lying in her bedroom in a pool of blood.
A few hours later, at around 3 pm, police discovered Balkaran’s body floating in a river a half-mile away from their home at Teelucksingh Street East, Squatters Settlement.
They said he attempted to hang himself from a tree but the rope burst and he fell into the river. Witnesses said the murder-suicide followed a heated argument between the couple on Thursday night.
Their two younger children — Usha, 18, and Rocky, 15 — said they last saw their parents alive before they left home Friday morning.
Resident Marilyn Gerard said at around 9 am a neighbour saw Balkaran heading towards a canefield. “He had blood on his clothes. I ask him for a cigarette and he say he did not have any. Then he went back home and changed his clothes and we don’t know where he gone,” she said.
Another neighbour, Curtis Alleyne, said he was asleep just after 1 pm when he was awakened by Rocky’s screams. “I hear the boy bawling: ‘Meh mother dead, meh mother dead’,” said Alleyne, who ran into the house and saw Ramsundar’s body on the ground next to her bed.
“Her body was stiff. Her throat was slit in a gruesome manner. There was a lot of blood,” he said. Another neighbour said she believed Ramsundar tried to fight off her killer because her hands were raised.
Their two youngest children, who were too distraught to be interviewed, left to stay with their older siblings, Babita, 21, and Anita, 19.
Neighbours said Balkaran had lived in the community for more than 10 years but his wife and children, all Guyanese nationals, only began living with him about four years ago.
Gerard said the two always were quarreling and a month ago Balkaran burnt down their house.
“He built it back but was always threatening she, saying he go buss she throat and drink she blood. This is very sad,” he said.
Police found a bloody kitchen knife in the house which they believe is the murder weapon.
Autopsies are expected to be performed tomorrow at the Forensic Science Centre, Port of Spain.