Man bent on killing family

One year ago Shanti Roopchand, 45, was stabbed by a close male relative at her Barrackpore home. The mother of three who is also a stroke victim survived. A Protection Order was taken out against a 52-year-old man who was charged and warned by a magistrate to stay away Roopchand.

On Friday night the man breached that order and returned to the family Pancham Trace, Barrackpore home where he chopped and stabbed Roopchand and her 27-year-old son, Premchand. The mother sustained stab wounds to her back and chest. She was also chopped to her left arm. Premchand was chopped on the left hand. They mother and her son are now listed in a stable condition after being treated at San Fernando General Hospital. According to a police report, the incident occurred at 9 pm. At the time Roopchand and her son were at the family home when the man armed with a cutlass and knife ran into the house.

One relative who wished not to be named told Newsday that the man called out to the mother then ran into the yard. “He was shouting ‘Shanti I want to see you’. When she did come out to see who was calling her the man rushed her and swung the cutlass at her,” the relative recalled. She said that Roopchand was dealt the first chop to her left arm. “She was screaming for help and begging him (name called) to stop but he continued to swing the cutlass at her. It was clear he wanted her dead,” the relative said.

Roopchand ran and her attacker followed her.

“He was aiming for her face what I was told he chopped her again to the hand and she fell to the ground,” said the relative.

By this time Premchand was alerted to his mother’s screams and ran to her side. Premchand, she related pushed to the man off his mother and the two began to scramble.

“He desperately tried to get the cutlass from his hand but he was unsuccessful and (name called) began chopping him. He wanted to chop off his neck, but Premchand kept using his hands to breaks the blows,” she said. Holding back her tears the relative said that after one year she did not expect the man to return.

She said that last year December he stabbed Roopchand at her home with a scissors. “I could not believe he came back.

I think he returned to finish the job.

He wants to kill Shanti,” she said. Adding, she said, “Even when he chopped her he pulled out a knife and began stabbing her.

It was neighbours who heard the commotion and ran to the house and was able to chase him,” she said.

He escaped into some nearby bushes along Pancham Trace, reports said. The mother and son were taken to hospital by ambulance personnel. “There was blood all over the yard and house. It was like a horror scene. I am thankful Shanti and Premchand are alive. I know this man could have killed them. I still can’t believe it,” she said. The 52-year-old man who went into hiding was arrested in Barrackpore on Saturday morning.

“The thing is we had forgiven him on the first occasion when he tried to kill her (Roopchand) with a scissors but this time there is no forgiveness.

I wish that he commits suicide. I wish that he dies. He is an evil man and does not deserve to live,” the emotional woman said. The 52-year-old man is expected to be charged and will appear before a Siparia magistrate on Tuesday.

Sgt Lewis is investigating.