By Clestine Juan
“YUH is a murderer and a lowlife junkie; you’re a monster,” were just some of the expressions of condemnation and hurt that were hurled at 28-year-old fisherman, Suresh Ganesh, as he exited the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate’s Court yesterday.Ganesh, who reportedly hacked his wife and two-year-old son to death about two weeks ago, made his first court appearance before Magistrate Clive Nurse, charged with two counts of murder, and was remanded to prison until August 29.

Prior to his appearance, he was taken for psychiatric evaluation, where doctors determined that he was fit to stand trial.

Ganesh, called “Battery” and “Tarzan”, was not required to plead to the charges, which alleged that on Friday, July 1, at Best Village, he murdered 34-year-old Vanessa Sukhram-Persaud and their two-year-old son, Joel Ganesh.

The family of the unrepresented man quickly left the court before Persaud’s relatives could have confronted them.

The dead woman’s mother, Anita Persaud, who was also present in court, could not contain herself as her reputed son-in-law was being escorted out of the courtroom.
“My daughter and grandson didn’t deserve to die like that,” she told him. “I will see that you pay, even if it’s the last thing I do,” the grieving woman said.

Having gotten that bit off her chest, the woman broke down in tears outside of the court, murmuring, “My daughter was murdered all because of love. She kept telling me, ‘Mommy, this boy need help, and I’m going to help him.’ And this is what she got in return.”

According to the mother, the five years her daughter was living with the accused was like ‘living in hell’, since she would often be abused by him, his mother and sister.

“Yuh know, just about a month ago, Suresh mother run my daughter with a cutlass and even threatened to kill her, while his sister, who live in the back house, used to cuss out Vanessa. But I keep telling her don’t tek them on,” Persaud said.

She alleged that Ganesh’s mother knew he wanted to kill her daughter, since she (Ganesh mother) had reportedly told a matron working at the Best Hospital so.

The mother also said that she had taken the couple’s older son, Samuel Sukhram, since they were unable to take care of him. “I tek away Samuel then she gone and mek another one… I left this country like four months ago, but I used to send money fuh mine she, ‘cause he never used to do none,” Persaud lamented.

“Suresh used to get Vanessa trapped inside of the house; even his brother in a recent news interview said he used to lock her inside of the house; and the family know that,” sobbed the woman as she blamed herself for not being there to save her daughter.

As the woman struggled to continue, she disclosed that Ganesh tried to cover his tracks by chopping up things in the house and fixed the bodies to look like if they were asleep.

“She died while fighting to save her child; but look what happened,” Persaud said as tears rolled down her face.

She added: “Vanessa wanted to leave him but she was awaiting her cousin arrival from the bush on July 28 to take her away from this monster- but it was too late,” the mother said as she wiped the tears away.

Sukhram-Persaud, a mother of two, was found on a blood-soaked mattress with her neck almost severed and with chops to her jaw, arms and fingers. Her son was found lying next to her with his intestines protruding.

The fisherman went berserk on the day in question, killing his family and almost severed the arm of his mother.

This newspaper understands that the alleged killer told the police that his wife had been unfaithful, and he was “stressed out” since he is unemployed and had difficulty finding a job.
According to reports, Ganesh was arguing with his wife over food, claiming that he was hungry. His mother overheard the heated argument, and decided to take a piece of bread over to the shack where Ganesh lived with his wife and son. The shack is located behind his mother’s house.

As she was taking the bread to his house, she was attacked by her son who was armed with a cutlass. The woman dropped the bread and ran towards her home, but the young man chased her and continued his chopping spree.