A SIXTY-YEAR-OLD father of four, married for 32 years and a victim of domestic violence that transcends all borders, in his matrimonial home for the last four years, has done everything legitimate within his power, to save his marriage, but it seems nothing has worked.

“It started with emotional and psychological abuse and before very long, my wife was playing such a serious mind game with me, hadn’t I been a very strong person, I would have literally tripped. But she was so crafty in the business, she employed various other means to destroy me:  materially, physically, psychologically, matrimonially and financially – you name it”, says Krishtenchand Mangal of Ocean View, Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara.
The former hire car driver claims that his wife has over the last four years or so, changed from the loving, caring and supportive individual she was, to a cold and manipulative woman who continues to flagrantly abuse, him, stripping him of his dignity, threatening his sanity and making him the subject of public ridicule. And it seems her carefully orchestrated plan has worked so well, he says, that even his children have turned against him, and one of his sons-in-law blatantly and sarcastically hurled insults at him, urging him to give his mother-in-law her ‘time and space.’
Mangal, who claims that throughout the years of his marriage he has always been the sole bread-winner in the home, and has always dutifully and adequately provided for his wife and children, said he was devastated when he discovered that his marriage was on the rocks and had perhaps reached a point of no return.
“I found out that my wife was cheating on me, and that the man destroying our marriage is living just two houses away from my matrimonial home at Uitvlugt. He also resides in the United States of America and has dual citizenship and so he travels back and forth between Guyana and the USA, making my life a living hell,” Mangal alleges.
But to make matters worse, he alleges that his wife encouraged disrespect for him and his home by putting his children against him and doing little things to strengthen the bonds of relationship between the intruder and his children. “My wife made our children turn away from me and this intruder in our marriage is bribing them with money and the promise of visas. In fact, it seems he uses his money to wield a mighty sway over some of her relatives who should know better, but are now condoning wrong doings and upholding their extra marital philandering,” Mangal alleges.
Mangal says the embarrassment his wife is causing him is more than he could bear. “Not only is she openly doing things with ‘this guy’ when he comes here to Guyana, but she travels in and out of the country to be with him, and it seems like she’s on unending joy ride, or I would say a care-free life between Canada and America,” he said.

Out smarted
The beleaguered husband recalls his wife cajoled him into selling the hire car which earned him a living, with the understanding that they would buy a pick-up. But, once having handed her the money from the sale of the hire car he was in for a shock, he now admits.
It was only when he saw the registration that he realised that his wife had bought a car in her son’s and her name. Not only was Mnagal’s s name excluded from the ownership of the motor car, but he was physically denied access to it.
Depression took a toll on him and his health deteriorated gradually.  During his illness, he said, his family made no effort to help him access medication. On one occasion he tried using the car to go to the pharmacy to buy himself medication, but his son refused to allow him to, and locked the gate to prevent him (the father) driving out of the yard.

Abandoned
A confrontation ensued and Mangal’s wife, their only son and youngest daughter, moved out of the home, leaving him behind. “Would you believe, those people took away everything from that house? They didn’t even leave as much as a grain of rice.” By then I was sick, left with no money and had nothing to eat.  But even worse, my only son I cherished and invested in, threatened he would ‘destroy me,” Mangal said.   He reported the matter to the Leonora Police station, but they did nothing.
Having lost his family, car and everything in the home, his state of health grew progressively worse. “I was lonely in that house. I recall going out sometimes and could not bear the agony of returning to an empty house. I felt cheated, devastated; my life was in turmoil, and so I would literally sleep on the road. The pain was too deep.”
“It tears me apart to see my marriage and family destroyed like this. My wife has now walked out on me. My children whom I loved so much, nurtured and educated; sacrificed to bring up, no longer want to see me.  But what is worse, they are ganging up with their mother against me, and ‘this individual’ (with dual citizenship) is creating the rift.”
Mangal recalls his wife having walked out of the home on at least two occasions and vowing on the second, never to return. Despite this, he says, he loves his wife and family and keeps begging her to re-unite with him.
But despite his harrowing experience, so deep is his love for his family, Managal continued to plea to his estranged wife to return home so they could work things out, but she has blatantly refused. Neither would she agree to give him a divorce. He now describes her attitude towards him, he describes as implacable, ruthless and out to destroy him totally. “This tells me she just wants to destroy me in whatever way she could,” he reasoned.

At death’s door
Consumed with grief he gravitated to alcohol, became depressed and anxious. With no food to eat and no one to help him, for two weeks he drank water alone and eventually suffered a nervous break down, he recalls. It triggered a suicide attempt which failed, but he nevertheless, suffered both physical and emotional damage. For the year 2011 alone, he was seen by at least 18 doctors and his condition was nowhere near improving.
But there was even a bigger shock in store for him: The threat of having to vacate the house in which he had lived for all his life and which was willed to him by his now dead father. He said he took care of his parents until the time of their death, and so his father willed the property to him. According to Mangal there is now a family conspiracy to get him out of the house and a relative recently turned up, claiming that he (the relative has a will for the property and has inherited it from Mangal’s dead parents.
He is now faced with the threat of eviction. Even though sick and devastated, Krishe vows he will fight to the last to safeguard his inherited right.
Grim, as he spok
e, Mangal   conjured up the courage to categorically state his position:   “My father always told me, ‘Don’t ever give away your rights, even if you have to die fighting for it,’” he declared. Conscious that his parents sweated and worked hard to achieve what they did, he vows he will fight to the last to save his inherited rights. He is thankful his brothers, (including one living in Canada), doctors who attended to him and a few supportive friends who counseled and offered him words of advice along the way.