Thirty-one-year-old Guyanese Alim Hassan, the prime suspect in the murder of his wife and two other women in New Jersey, is expected to be moved from Buffalo to New Jersey today pending a court appearance on Monday.
Hassan has been charged with the gruesome triple murders of his pregnant wife Marlyn, sister-in-law Sharon Yassin, and mother-in-law Bernadette Seajattan, whose bloody corpses were found in their Fox Place home early Tuesday morning.
Reports state that Hassan, who migrated to the United States last year February, was nabbed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Wednesday, while reportedly trying to flee to Canada.
In Guyana yesterday, Hassan’s parents and relatives were still trying to come to grips with the tragedy.
When Stabroek News visited the Hassans’ home at Meten-Meer-Zorg on the West Coast of Demerara, Bibi Safura Hassan, Alim’s mother, softly maintained that her son loved his wife.
She, however, indicated that the couple had been experiencing some domestic problems, which she knew of during March when they had returned to Guyana, along with the other two women murdered - his mother-in-law Bernadette Seajattan and his sister-in-law Sharon Yassin.
Relatives in Guyana yesterday held out that Marilyn Hassan, though born a Hindu, had converted to Islam after she and Alim were married some seven years ago. They said contrary to reports in the US press, the killings were not because of a religious conflict.
One report coming out of the United States quoted Marlyn’s father, Baldeo Seajattan as saying: “They would fight [all the time] over what religion the children would be...she [Marlyn] didn’t want to become a practising Muslim.”
But yesterday, the young man’s mother maintained that Alim was not forcing the religion on Marilyn. She picked up a photograph of her daughter-in-law dressed in the `hijab’ [a Muslim garb].
“She has been wearing it for years since she accept the religion. Sometimes she would call and tell me which part of the Quran I can read...If I make a mistake, she would correct me. That is how far she go in the religion.”
“They had a very good relationship [and] personally, I had a good relationship with my daughter-in-law,” Bibi Hassan told Stabroek News. She repeatedly stated how sorry she was about the tragedy.
At the time, family members were mulling over photographs of the couple, taken in happier times - Marlyn in a hijab embracing her husband, who too was clad in Muslim wear, or another with them on a porch or on the street. In all the photographs, the couple smiled lovingly as they held each other close.
But despite what the world saw, Bibi Hassan related, there was trouble in the young people’s marriage.
“When they got married, she converted [to Islam]. Then after he went across, he always keep calling and complaining to me that she is not treating him good. She would come home late from work. When she got married, she accepted the religion and prayed five times a day with her husband [but] when she got pregnant, she claimed that she doesn’t want to be a Muslim anymore. [Marlyn] stopped praying, which was not a problem for Alim. He always kept saying that maybe because she was pregnant that was why she was behaving like that,” Mrs. Hassan said.
The last time she spoke to Alim was on July 25, just five days before the tragedy. It was his birthday. He complained that his mother-in-law and sister-in-law were setting his wife against him.
“Her mother and sister would disturb him while he was praying in his room by throwing flowers on him. One day, [Bernadette] clapped her hands, put Jesus Christ picture in front of him and started to shout out for Jesus Christ. They pack all of his of his clothes ...He call me and tell me and I asked why she did that? I told him to leave. I told him to come home [but] he keep saying, `I love my wife and I will do everything to save my marriage.’ We asked him to leave the home [but he said she would probably change her mind and if [she doesn’t], he would leave,” the woman related of the conversation she had with her second-born of three.
She said Hassan had left the New Jersey home about two months ago, but returned after his wife asked. It was in time to celebrate her birthday on July 4.
Hassan’s father, Rashid, yesterday opened his son’s room. On the walls were numerous framed photographs of his son and daughter-in-law. In a large frame was a smiling Marlyn hanging over Alim’s bed.
The couple had met each other while attending Zeeburg Secondary School and Hassan’s father recalled their courting days.
“He really loved her...from since schooldays when I used to drive bus on the West Coast here. I used to see them when they came out of school. They were courting at that time.” These sentiments were echoed by another West Coast resident who lives next door to the Seajattan’s empty home at Leonora.
Today, two black flags fly at the front of the house to signify mourning.
Despite her son’s complaints, Mrs. Hassan still loved her daughter-in-law. If given the opportunity, she plans to tell Hassan: “I condemn it...I would tell him that it is wrong what he did and I don’t like what he did. I would ask him to pray and ask God to forgive him.” (Kim Lucas)