THE SEXAGENARIAN wanted by police following the death of his reputed wife after he allegedly bludgeoned her at their Laluni Creek residence on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway Monday was up to late yesterday still at large. Police confirmed this in a statement saying that “the suspect has not yet been arrested,” and that their investigations have so far revealed that the 54-year-old deceased, Rajpattie Ramdhanie, was allegedly assaulted about her body with a cutlass by her common-law husband on January 05, 2011.
A relative of the woman’s told the Guyana Chronicle yesterday that the police had taken  from them a photograph of the suspect, 60-year-old Ernest Baichu, with the intention perhaps of publicizing it if continued efforts to locate him fail.
Ramdhanie, a mother of 13, died at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) Thursday, four days after being admitted to the institution with injuries about her body allegedly inflicted by Baichu.
A labourer by profession, the man has not been seen in the village since, and according to reports, the woman had fled their home last Sunday after he dealt her a severe beating.
She reportedly sought refuge at the home of her daughter in another part of the village, but he later turned up there, on Monday around midday to be precise, armed with a cutlass, and proceeded to attack her.
In the presence of their daughter and a teenaged son, he reportedly dealt the woman several broadsides with the cutlass, threatening to do the same to the youngster when he attempted to intervene, thus causing the lad to beat a hasty retreat.
According to reports, there was no one else in the village but them at the time of the incident, and that after ‘broadsiding’ his spouse repeatedly with the cutlass, Baichu then kicked her about the body before fleeing into nearby bushes.
After he’d fled, Ramdhanie’s daughter reportedly sought help to transport her to the Public Hospital, where she was admitted in a critical condition, and apparently unconscious.
Son, Ganesh, said his mother had helped support him and his twelve siblings  by selling fish in and around Laluni, and had endured years of  physical abuse at the hands of his father.
He said that after being admitted to the hospital Monday last, his mother had regained consciousness and complained to him of searing pains in her stomach.
She died at around midday Thursday. (Clifford Stanley)