JUST after he was sentenced to 76 years imprisonment by Justice Navindra Singh, convicted murderer Ramesh Muniram, looked at his mother and urged her not to cry.In October 2013, Muniram was found guilty of slaying his wife, Sunita August, on January 14, 2010 in the koker at Nismes, West Bank Demerara.

It has been less than two years since the sentence had been imposed. Last Sunday, as the world celebrated Father’s Day the wife killer felt his time on earth was nearing its end.

He had moments earlier attended a church service, held within the walls of the New Amsterdam Prison, where he reminisced upon his four children – Rahool, who lives in Suriname, Reshonie who lives with his mother (her grandmother), along with Jenita and Kevin, whose mother he murdered.

Moments after, he went to his prison cell, tore his sheet, twisted several stripped pieces together, barricaded with another piece, before mounting on bucket, suspending himself and kicking the bucket away. His lifeless body was discovered by an inmate moments later.

His mother Kimawattie Ragubeer, got the message, whilst she was at her Unity Street, La Grange home, West Bank Demerara.
She travelled to New Amsterdam, where she met with prison authorities, before her accompanying relatives made arrangements with the police to conduct the post mortem, schedule for Wednesday.

This reporter caught up with the 56-year-old woman during her second trip to the Ancient County. Her first trip was to visit her son, after he was transferred to the Berbice penitentiary in April last.
During that visit, the distraught woman recalled her son saying, “Mammy, you must not cry. Me punish enough. Me nah able nah more. Mammy, me can’t live fuh serve 76 years”.
“He does always tell me nah walk bare footed as I am sickly and that I must take care of his daughter, but her mother who lives in Suriname, will be coming for her shortly. You know, he usually tell me he nah able but me dos not tek he on. I did not believe he would have killed himself. But, I know he did it.”
In the meanwhile, Ms Ragubeer noted that since her son’s sentence, she had paid a lawyer $200,000 in order to file an appeal. Now, with her son’s untimely death, she is questioning whether that sum could be recovered.
Meanwhile, at the conclusion of the murder trial, Justice Singh at the Demerara Assizes informed the convict that since the Judiciary can now impose an alternative to the death penalty for murder, he would be sentenced to 60 years for murder, an additional five years because he premeditated to kill his wife, five more years because he proceeded with such brutality and six years for the domestic violence involved in the matter.
According to the State, Muniram who is formerly of Lot 5 Vauxhall, Canal Number 1 Polder, West Bank Demerara, poisoned his wife before strangling her to death.
Details of the case revealed that Muniram’s wife ingested a poisonous substance concealed in a Pepsi bottle which he had given to her.
As the poison took effect, the woman fell into a nearby canal. Muniram went after her, choked her until she was lifeless and then hid her body under stuff in the canal.
Muniram, in an unsworn statement from the dock, noted that he and his wife had just finished having sexual intercourse, when she decided to go to a koker at Nismes canal to bathe.
The man told the court that his wife fell into the koker and in an attempt to save her, he went for a piece of stick, since he could not swim but when he returned he could not find her.
An autopsy report prepared by Government Pathologist Nehaul Singh revealed that the woman died from asphyxiation due to drowning. It was noted that the deceased body bore compressed injuries to the neck.
Meanwhile, Maniram – who also leaves to mourn an identical twin brother, will be buried at his home town, later in the week.

By Jeune Bailey Vankeric