Three weeks after her husband chopped her and then killed himself, mother of two Vashti Seuraj-Sookram is still receiving intensive care treatment at the hospital.
While her injuries are not life-threatening, the 30-year-old mother still has a long way to recovery.
Seuraj-Sookram and her family, however, were dealt another blow days later when her stepfather Motilal Kallicharan, 73, suffered a heart attack. He died at their Kanhai Road South, Barrackpore home on March 4.
Seuraj-Sookram was at home around 10 pm on February 21 when her husband David Sookram, 38, attacked her with a cutlass, chopping her several times.
Her screams woke up her mother Rita Silvan, 65, who was gashed on her palm when she tried to wrestle the cutlass away from Sookram.
Other family members, including the couple’s two children, ages eight and 12, woke up. By then, Seuraj-Sookram had already run out of the house but her husband was still attacking her. As she lay on the ground bleeding profusely, Sookram went to the back of the house where he ingested a poisonous substance and died.
In a telephone interview on Monday, Seuraj-Sookram’s sister, Maureen Rampersad, said she was not sure whether the stress contributed to her stepfather’s demise.
She explained that on February 2, he went to a private doctor because he was experiencing chest pains. Rampersad said the doctor did not do any tests and said it was acid.
Recalling the day Kallicharan died, she said he told them he was experiencing a burning in his chest and took gas and antacid tablets.
That night he took a bath and was lying in a hammock when he suffered a massive heart attack. He was cremated last Wednesday.
Rampersad said the entire situation, Kallicharan’s death coupled with her sister’s attack, had been very difficult on her mother.
“She has these two little children (Seuraj-Sookram’s children) to deal with and she is not a healthy person to say healthy and fit to handle everything that is happening,” Rampersad said.
She said only one person was allowed to visit her sister at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the San Fernando General Hospital. She said the doctors told them her sister was lucky to be alive.
Apart from the multiple chop wounds, she said her sister also lost a lot of blood.
Although she is in a stable condition and conscious, the doctors said Seuraj-Sookram has to do more surgeries.
Rampersad said her sister does not talk much and has not spoken about the attack but says it haunts her.
“She just there, quiet, quiet, because she say she is have a lil problem closing she eye to sleep, she keep seeing everything happening all over again,” she added,
Seuraj-Sookram, however, is in a lot of pain. Due to the surgery and wounds on her hands, she cannot feed herself. She received most of the wounds to her upper back.
Rampersad said Seuraj-Sookram’s children were back in school and the younger child does online classes while the other child has returned to physical classes.
She said Seuraj-Sookram doesn’t really talk about what happened. She added that the school social worker contacted them and was expected to visit them but then their grandfather died.
Rampersad said the Children’s Authority also visited the home once and spoke to them. They were told that a social worker would contact the family.
“But, you know this is Trinidad everything slower than normal,” she added.
She said they all went to Seuraj-Sookram’s husband’s funeral on February 27.
They are still clueless about what triggered his deadly actions.
Sookram, a mechanic, had moved out of the house a few days before the attack, after he had an argument with his wife.
However, relatives said he was never a violent or abusive person.
Due to her sister’s emotional and physical state, said she decided against talking to her about her husband or the incident.
She said her sister told her that she would speak to the family about the ordeal when she comes out of the hospital. She said Sookram’s relatives also had no idea what caused his violent outburst.