The 49-year-old Parika backdam labourer who set his home alight and then consumed poison during the wee hours of Monday morning, succumbed while under observation at the West Demerara Regional Hospital on Tuesday morning.
Dead is father of three, Mohan Persaud of Parika Backdam, East Bank Essequibo.
On Monday, the man’s eldest daughter, Shivani Persaud, had said that sometime after midnight her father had been drinking and retired to bed in the upper flat of the home, which he shared with his wife and two other children.
The 17-year-old explained that a lamp which was being used to light up the house, due to there being no electricity, was accidentally kicked to the ground by Persaud’s foot as he was sleeping.
She related that her mother was at a neighbour’s home at the time, while her younger sister was asleep and her brother was not at home.
However, when contacted, Police “D” Division Commander, Leslie James, said that in accordance with police reports, Persaud returned home from work on Sunday in an intoxicated state which resulted in a confrontation between him and his wife.
The dispute ended with the labourer reportedly threatening his wife by saying “I will teach you a lesson.”
The woman reportedly woke at a later point to the smell of smoke and subsequently realized that the house was on fire.
It wasn’t long before the entire wooden structure became engulfed in flames.
The family managed to escape the inferno with no injuries and, as they watched the house burn to the ground, it was then that Persaud reportedly revealed that he had consumed poison.
He was rushed to the medical facility around 01:00hrs on Monday.
The reports to this publication by the neighbours’ supported the information provided by the Police.
According to one neighbour-who asked to remain anonymous- at the time of incident, Persaud was drunk and involved in a domestic dispute with his wife and it was during “his enraged state that he deliberately set the house alight.” (Ramona Luthi)
