[UPDATED] Teacher chops wife to death, dies after drinking poison in Barrackpore

A primary school teacher chopped his wife to death and died after he drank poison, in a violent end of a 14-year marriage on the verge of divorce, in the rural village of Barrackpore on Friday night.

One hour before her murder, Omatie Deobarran, 36, challenged her husband Amar, 41, about a threat to evict her from her home and recorded the argument on her cellphone.

Omatie was chopped multiple times and died on the scene while her husband died at hospital hours later.

The murder-suicide sent shockwaves though the community of South Trace, Barrackpore where the couple lived with their two children – a 13-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy, at the husband's extended family home.

Omatie was employed as a supervisor at Bankers Insurance, in Chaguanas and Amar was a teacher at the Avocat Vedic Primary School.

According to police reports, officers responded to a report of a suspected murder and met the couple's daughter in the roadway with her grandmother.

The child told police that at around 7.40 pm on Friday, her father, armed with a cutlass, came to the back of the house and attacked her mother.

She ran for help and alerted her grandmother and neighbours. Amar was seen running away from the house, drinking from a bottle of what appeared to be poisonous liquid.

Police went to the back of the house where they saw Omatie lying face down with chop wounds on her left hand and left side of her neck.

Paramedics were called and determined that Omatie was dead. Police and paramedics later found Amar in a shed to the back of the house frothing.

He was taken to the Princes Town District Health Facility and then transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital where he died around 1.30 am.

At Omatie's family's home in Mohess Road, Penal, her brother Jagdesh Kanchan, 31, said Omatie's daughter called and told them that her father had chopped her mother, whom the family called Jemma, and ran away to the back of their house.

"We got the call about 8.30 pm. By the time, we reached over there, it was close to 9 pm." Police and other relatives were already there.

"We could not get to go in to see anything."

While Omatie's relatives were outside the property, Kanchan said some of Amar's relatives brought him out from the back of the property and put him in a van. "He was not right in his head because he drank poison."

Asked what could have triggered Amar's actions, Kanchan replied, "Amar was having an affair. That is why he pushed Jemma (Omatie) to get a divorce."

Last year, Jagdesh said, Amar told Omatie he was seeing another woman and he wanted to bring her to live in their home. "So she (Omatie) had move out."

But he said Omatie "decided to stay for the sake of the children." Omatie gathered evidence about Amar's infidelity and obtained the services of a lawyer. Some of that evidence was recorded on WhatsApp.

Kanchan said Omatie was "a kind-hearted person who never said no to anybody." While Omatie did her best to keep things as stable as possible for her children, Kanchan said things got progressively worse from last September until Friday.

"Every day they were arguing." He said Omatie gave her information to that lawyer. Asked if Omatie feared for her life or the lives of her children, Kanchan replied, "They said Amar was suicidal and he studied chopping them with a cutlass, running her out from the house."

Omatie never reported this to the police. But Jagdesh said she confided this to a relative. "It's just recently, we got to know about all of this. She confided in her lawyer." Omatie was reportedly advised to record any argument she had with Amar.

Kanchan said Omatie and Amar were in court on March 30. He added they were advised to live in separate parts of the property. Last Thursday, Kanchan said Amar took their son out and did not return him home after the agreed time.

"She filed a motion and he got it yesterday (Friday)." While he did not know what was in the correspondence Amar received from Omatie's lawyer, Kanchan believed "that is what tripped him off." He disclosed that Omatie sent him and other relatives a video via WhatsApp at 6.48 pm on Friday.

Kanchan played the expletive-laden video. In it, he said, Omatie and Amar's voices were heard but they were not seen in the video. An unknown woman was seen talking to Omatie. Amar was heard accusing Omatie of lying to him.

"Go, go, go. Start packing. Go with just what you're wearing," Amar said.

"No. I'm going to pack my clothes," Omatie replied.

The unknown woman told Omatie, "You have no feelings for those children." Omatie was heard talking back to her. Amar was heard telling the woman not to say anything. "She will put that in court."

The woman and Omatie continued to argue. "Look the road there, go," the woman told her.

Omatie said, "Let me go. Let me get out of here and go." Amar told her the children were not going anywhere. Omatie threatened to go to the police. Amar replied, "They're not going anywhere."

Omatie replied, "What are you putting me through? You told me you are going to get divorced. You told me you were going to get papers for me to sign. You told me after March 31, you going to deal with me. How? How?"

Amar asked why Omatie used US dollars she had to pay a lawyer to put him in court.

"All of this thing you were doing in the background and playing with your phone?" before the recording ended.

Asked if they knew what happened, Kanchan said, "The little boy, he witnessed everything." He added it took two hours for him to settle down before he related what happened. According to Kanchan, the incident happened in the dining room of the house.

Omatie was working on her computer, her son let Amar inside after he called out. Kanchan said when he entered the house, Amar chopped Omatie. Her daughter was upstairs.

Kanchan said Omatie's children were seeing a counsellor prior to the incident to help them deal with their parents' pending divorce. He said Omatie's lawyer will ensure that those services continue for her children.

Omatie's cousin Tricia Kanchan believed that a letter which Amar received from Omatie's attorney, could have triggered events leading to the incident.

Asked if Omatie asked Amar for a divorce in that letter, Tricia replied, "I'm not sure really but it was something leading towards that."

Omatie was employed at Bankers Insurance in Chaguanas for 15 years. Kanchan said she was promoted last year from an accountant to a supervisor. He reiterated the family did not expect anything like this to happen.

"He (Amar) was a very educated person. We were not expecting that." Omatie's children are staying with her relatives in Penal. "They are comfortable here," Kanchan said.

At Amar's home in Barrackpore, his relatives were in a sombre mood. The front gate to the property was eventually locked, once they were inside.

A 45-year-old cousin of Amar, who declined to give his name, said the family was shocked by what happened.

"I think they were having marital problems. I believe it was recent. They were living together. They were in counselling." Asked if Omatie and Amar had any earlier tension which could have triggered Friday's incident, he replied, "The police are doing a report. I'm not sure what happened."

He described Amar as an upstanding citizen, who did charity work, loved his children and someone with a passion for education.

"Everybody makes mistakes and unfortunately this led to a fatality. I don't condone what he did. Violence to women is not tolerated in any part of the world."

"He (Amar) possibly had a fit of rage. He wasn't thinking straight and probably temporary insanity for want of a better word." Amar, the cousin continued, had been a teacher for the last ten years.

He did not know if Omatie and Amar's problems involved custody of their children. He added that Amar's relatives have not spoken with Omatie's relatives.

One neighbour said the incident "shocked the whole village." He said Amar often gave free lessons to children in the area and often spoke about his ambition to become "one of the youngest (school) principals." He did not know anything about Omatie.

"She would see about her children and go to work."

Another neighbour said things had been difficult for Amar's family since his father died from covid19 last year.

In February, Vashti Suraj-Sookram, 30, was chopped by her husband David Sookram, 38, who then took his own life in Barrackpore.

Her right wrist and left arm were almost severed in the domestic dispute, but doctors managed to reattach them.

In an interview on March 17, Acting Commissioner of Police McDonald Jacob encouraged victims of domestic violence, both men and women, to seek help from the police, even if they don't want the offender charged with a criminal offence.

Jacob was asked to comment on the issue in light of the recent incident where a Carenage man was doused with a flammable liquid and set alight by a woman. He said while he could not comment on the particular case which was under investigation, he encouraged people to alert the police in instances of domestic violence.

This story has been updated with additional details. It was first published under the headline Teacher dies at hospital after chopping wife to death in Barrackpore

A 36-year-old woman was chopped to death at her home at South Trace, Barrackpore and her attacker died after drinking poison.

According to police reports, officers responded to a report of a suspected murder in the area and upon their arrival, they met a 13-year-old relative of Omatie Deobarran standing in the roadway with her grandmother.

The relative told police that at around 7.40 pm on April 1, the suspect, Amar Deobarran, a 41-year-old primary school teacher, armed with a cutlass, came to the back of the house where the the child lived with her mother. Police were told the teacher chopped Deobarran several times.

The child ran for help and alerted her grandmother and neighbours. The suspect was seen running away from the house, drinking from a bottle of what appeared to be poisonous liquid.

Police officers went to the back of the house where they saw Deobarran lying face down with chop wounds on her left hand and left side of her neck.

Paramedics were called and they determined that Deobarran was dead. Police officers and paramedics later found the attacker in a shed to the back of the house frothing. He died at hospital early on Saturday.

District Medical Officer Dr Rajkumar visited the scene and ordered the removal of the woman's body to the San Fernando General Hospital mortuary pending a post mortem examination at the Forensic Sciences Centre, St James.

Police investigations are ongoing.