On the evening of December 28, 2013, 41-year-old Versha Kandasamy and her husband Rajen went out with members of a group of friends and extended family. They had some drinks and danced at a local nightclub. According to their friends, Rajen followed his wife around all night.
The couple had been having marital problems and a few days earlier Rajen had approached Krebashinie Manthree, the wife of Versha’s cousin, for help. “He said she was going to leave him. He phoned me about 10:45 in the morning on December 26. He told me that his wife wanted to leave him. I told him that ‘the way you have been in the past few months, no person would want to stay with you’,” she would later testify.
When the couple returned home in the early hours of December 29, Versha reportedly told Rajen that she wanted to end their troubled marriage. Rajen has admitted that his wife wanted a divorce because she had met someone else. The couple had two children, Megandran, 17, and Melarisa, 18.
Later that night, Versha was asleep in her bed when her husband Rajen snuck into their room and bludgeoned her to death with a traditional mace. When his son and daughter came into the room he struck them both on their heads, killing them. He then fled the scene. Police had to enlist the help of a slightly built neighbour to gain access to the house through an upstairs bathroom window.
After a lengthy trial in which 44-year-old Rajen claimed police threatened him to force a confession, he was convicted of all three murders. An expert testified that not one of his three victims had attempted to fight off his deadly attack.
Versha will never celebrate another Women's Month. She will never celebrate another Mother's Day, birthday or Christmas with the children she loved. Versha's hopes and dreams for her family will never be realised.
For Versha's sake and the sake of women everywhere, if you know somebody who has committed an act of violence against a woman Don't Look Away
.
If you know a young woman's life is in danger, Don't Look Away
.
If you are able to help prevent another tragedy, Don't Look Away
.
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