Calcutta widow recalls moments after husband’s Sunday-night murder

Disoriented by the medication she took before going to bed, Rosanna Seepersad woke up to the sound of a loud bang around 11pm on Sunday at her home on Sooknanan Avenue in Calcutta Settlement.

Unsure what had happened, and afraid, she quickly covered herself with a bedsheet, as well as and her eight-year-old son, who was sleeping in the same bed.

Laying in terror under the sheet for several minutes, Seepersad called out to her husband Devendra, 54, who was also supposed to be in bed with them. But he did not answer.

After summoning the courage to get out of bed, she was shocked to see Devendra lying motionless on the ground.

Devendra was an auto mechanic and the two had been married for 23 years. Their eight-year-old was their only child.

When Newsday visited on Monday morning, the mattress was propped up in the porch while Seepersad sat dejected a short distance away in her mother’s yard.

Recalling the ordeal, she said, “Three of us – he (Devendra), my son and I – went to bed at the same time, but he fall asleep before both of us.

“After we fall asleep, I didn’t hear any noise at all until a few hours after. When I do catch myself, I just hear one shot go 'bow.'

“When I hear it I block my ears with my hands, and after I moved my hands, I grab my son and throw a blanket over the two of us on the bed and we didn’t move at all.”

Seepersad said she has been diagnosed with high blood pressure and prescribed a sleeping pill and two types of blood-pressure tablets before sleeping. She often falls into a deep sleep after taking the medication and is often unaware of anything until she wakes up next morning.

After the shooting, Seepersad said, “My son asked, 'Mommy, where Daddy?' and I said, 'He probably went to the washroom to come back.'

“But when I did look down from the bed, I saw him on the ground. When I did see him on the ground, I just see like something (a bullet) shining.

“I didn’t go up closely to him, because I was just like in a shock. In that space of time I like I got a darkout and I didn’t do anything.”

But when the situation finally registered, Seepersad recalled grabbing her son and running to the porch, where she started screaming.

A neighbour rushed to the house and called the police when Seepersad explained what happened.

Police responded over 30 minutes later.

After the police and crime scene investigators left, Seepersad said she discovered Devendra’s phones were missing and called back the police.

As for the reason for the shooting, she was baffled.

“I didn’t see anybody (after the murder), and he didn’t tell me if he had any altercation or any argument with anybody.

“He was just normal. He would often leave from home and come by my mom to sit down, where he would talk and thing with she.”

Since the shooting, Seepersad has needed medication because her blood pressure is high.

The Homicide Investigations Bureau (Region III) is continuing investigations.