Pregnant mom fatally stabs man in attack

Nirmala Sieukaran weeps yesterday for a relative who is in police custody for questioning in the fatal stabbing of Dayanand  Dookie at Solomon Drive, Cunupia, on Friday.  Photo by Vashti Singh
Nirmala Sieukaran weeps yesterday for a relative who is in police custody for questioning in the fatal stabbing of Dayanand Dookie at Solomon Drive, Cunupia, on Friday. Photo by Vashti Singh

While being slapped and pushed against a wall in the kitchen of their home in Cunupia on Friday evening, a pregnant mother stabbed her attacker once in his chest to ward him off. The man, Dayanand Dookie, was taken to the Chaguanas Health Facility where he later died, and police detained the 27-year-old woman. Up to last evening, the woman, who is two-months pregnant with her fourth child, remained in custody assisting with the investigation.

The incident occurred on Friday at about 4.30 pm at their apartment home at Solomon Drive off Chin Chin Road, Cunupia. Police said Dookie, 31, also called Sick, had a heated argument with the woman following which he began beating her. Her three sons — Darion, Darren and Damien — ages seven, six and one respectively — were at home at the time of the attack.

After receiving several slaps and cuffs, the woman grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Dookie, a maxi-taxi driver, in the chest. He plied the Chaguanas/Curepe route. Sunday Newsday visited the apartment yesterday and relatives claimed the mother had been in an abusive relationship with Dookie for more than eight years.

A relative of the woman, Nirmala Sieukaran, 52, said she had pleaded with the woman many times for her to end the relationship. Sieukaran claimed Dookie had threatened to kill the woman on many occasions.

“I tired tell her to leave him but, because of the children, she never wanted to. (Name called) said she is sticking it out with him. Many times, she had to leave the children in the maxi and run away for her life,” Sieukaran said.

She said, only a week ago, the man beat the woman at Sieukaran’s residence at Jerningham, Chaguanas, where he had gone to drop the family off. As she was running off for help into the streets, her one-year-old son fell from her arms. He sustained minor injuries and a passerby took the mother and baby away from the scene.

“He started beating her all in my house, in the yard, and they ended up in the road. The child fell out her hand and people were there watching. A man put two of them in his car and carried them home. The two other children and he too remained by me.”

Cunipia police were informed of the incident but Sieukaran said those who responded only scolded the man without any arrest.

“They just told him not to drive the maxi because he was drunk. As soon as they left, he took a key and drove off with the maxi. They are always moving because they cannot pay their rents. Landlords are always putting them out. Anywhere they are renting, police are called in,” Sieukaran said between sobs. The children went to stay at the home of a friend in the interim.

Only about six months ago, the family had moved into the Solomon Drive apartments to live. Tenants said that the couple constantly argued, and the landlord had warned them about it. Ricky Sankar, a neighbour, said he heard a loud argument and a tenant alerted him about the stabbing. When he went to the apartment, the woman was weeping over Dookie who was still alive and laying on the ground.

An autopsy is expected to be performed tomorrow at the Forensic Science Centre, St James.

Dookie was the second man to be killed within two months by a close female relative in domestic-related circumstances.

On November 24, last year, a woman stabbed Kieron Archibald during an altercation in a car at South Oropouche.

Police arrested and subsequently released the woman, whom they said was a victim of domestic abuse.

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