GANESH Dhanraj, the man accused of strangling his wife, appeared before Magistrate Rochelle Liverpool at the Leonora Magistrates Court, West Coast Demerara, on Tuesday, charged with murder.

The 28-year-old man was not required to plead to the charge and was remanded to prison until June 5. He allegedly strangled his reputed wife, 29-year-old Dhanwantie Ram, with a bedsheet in their Parika, East Bank Essequibo home on April 5, 2017.

On April 9, the police arrested Dhanraj after four days on the run; he was caught around 02:00hrs Sunday at Parika after he was shot in his right arm by lawmen. On the morning of April 5, the lifeless body of the mother of three was found in a sitting position with a bed sheet tied around her neck.
The victim’s sister, who made the gruesome discovery, told this newspaper that the woman was found kneeling on the living room floor, slumped across a chair with the sheet around the neck. She had also been covered with a carpet, the witness said.

Investigations had revealed that Dhanwantie, after enduring years of abuse, recently ended her relationship with Dhanraj; she left his house with their three children and went to live elsewhere in Parika.
But although she had tried to move on, Dhanraj continued to harass her, and on April 5, as she was on her way to make a report to the police, he lured her into his house and allegedly killed her. The two had been together for some 15 years and the union produced three children, two girls aged 10 and seven, and a boy, aged eight.