Murder victim’s family begged her to leave relationship

“We begged you to leave him, why didn’t you listen?”

That was the anguished plea of Anisa Jaggernath as she wept over her sister’s body yesterday. Arisa Vanna David, 25, was murdered sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning at her Chase Village home which she shared with her daughters Ranessa, eight and Irisa, three. Her body was found by her mother Debra David at about 8am on Tuesday. An autopsy later the same day revealed she had been strangled.

Her family believes a man with whom David was in a relationship is responsible for her death. Hundreds of mourners gathered at the family’s home at Limehead Road, Chase Village yesterday to bid farewell to the young mother, who was described as fun-loving, sprightly and a little too forgiving.

A cousin, identified only as Tiny, said David spent her last day at her home.

“She cooked for me, we lime and she was telling my husband she really fed up of this and she couldn’t take it any more,” Tiny said.

“She said 2018 is a new year, she wouldn’t be going though this kinda stress this year.” Tiny could go no further, but broke down and wept. She and many others were dressed in orange, David’s favourite colour.

Addressing mourners, family friend Joseph Bharose begged the younger generation to heed their parents’ and elders’ advice.

“Her mother, her father, her brothers, her one sister…they all pleaded with Vanna to end this relationship,” Bharose said. “We will never know the hell that she went through over the past seven years and how she was able to cope with all of that.

Delivering the eulogy, David’s uncle Rajendranath Ramsundar said she had a bright future, but chose a different road.

“She attended the Waterloo High School and although she didn’t complete her years there, she received many accolades and awards. She had been selected to play draughts internationally but she chose not to take that opportunity,” Ramsundar said.

Founder and CEO of Domestic Violence Survivors Regional Nester Flanders-Skeete, who lives next to the David family, told Newsday she was shocked to learn David was being abused. “I asked them about it when I saw the news and heard what happened, and they said the family knew about it, but they didn’t want to spread her personal business,” Flanders-Skeete said. “But I have said it time and time again, domestic violence is everybody’s business and it is not to be kept a secret.

“Maybe if I knew something I could have spoken to the guy and there could have been a resolution.” David was buried at the St Mary’s Public Cemetery.

No one has been charged yet for her murder. Central Division Police are continuing investigations.