Stabroek News
May 17, 2001

The widows of the two men, who were brutally shot to death on the East Coast Demerara backlands on May 6 are trying to come to grips with their losses as they try to rebuild and contemplate their future.

Mahadai Barran also known as `Pramla', 38, and the mother of seven children ages ranging from five to 20 years, was the wife and mother respectively of Bemchand Barran and ten-year-old Mervyn, who died of gunshot wounds in the Enterprise backdam when they had gone shrimping. The late Barran, a canecutter and fisherman, was the breadwinner of the family,

Their bullet-ridden bodies were discovered shortly before that of Dhanpaul Jagdeo, 25, of Non Pariel. Jagdeo, a weeder, who leaves to mourn his wife, Bibi Zameena, 19, and a four-month-old daughter.

When Stabroek News visited Mahadai yesterday, she said that she was thankful for the support she had received from people of all walks of life, including President Bharrat Jagdeo, ministers of the government, the media, particularly NTN Channel 69, the people of Enterprise, especially her neighbours, businessmen and women, the Police Commissioner and the Guyana Police Force and everyone who shared the family's sorrow throughout Guyana. The father-in-law and daughter of Jagdeo expressed similar sentiments.

At the home of the late Barran, the biggest worry for his widow was a permanent residence and the safety of her children. She feared that whoever killed her husband and son could also be looking for the surviving members of her family. At present, the Barrans are squatting on the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) reserve. She said that Minister of Housing and Water Shaik Baksh had promised to assist in this regard.

Mahadai was grateful for the financial and material support she received from many Guyanese. She said that she would try to invest in her children's education as that would have been her husband's wish and it had been a struggle to keep them in school while he was alive. Her eldest son is a carpenter but his kind of work "is not steady" she said. She still had three children attending school.

To upkeep her family, she said, the late Barran would cut cane during the harvesting season and do shrimping and fishing in the off-season. She did the selling. Usually her second and third son would accompany their father or they would go by themselves to do shrimping. However, because of the manner of the death of her husband and son she did not want them to go back to the backlands.

Her third son, Navendra, was still recovering from the shock of having found his father's and brother's bullet ridden bodies. His mother had sent him to look for them after they had not returned home at the usual time.

Bibi Zameena also said that she and her late husband had applied for a house lot and she hoped the application would still be considered. Since their marriage she and her late husband had been living with her parents and had been helping to build a new house, which was still under construction.

Bibi Zameena, who turned 19 on Tuesday told Stabroek News that she and her late husband had planned to celebrate her birthday with a party this year as it would have been the first of her birthdays they would have been celebrating together since they got married last July. It was, she said, a sad day for her as they had spent her last three birthdays together.

Because of the age of her baby, Bibi Zameena said she would not like to work away from home, but would like to get into some poultry rearing to help maintain herself. She would need some advice and other help in this field.