A 57-year-old man was stabbed to death on Monday night when a woman allegedly plunged a knife into his chest during a heated argument,
After the incident, Gary Balgobin was taken from his Ste Madeleine home to the San Fernando General Hospital where he died.
The 53-year-old suspect, a housewife and mother of five, was in police custody up to last evening.
While grieving over Balgobin’s death, relatives admitted he was a heavy drinker and would become verbally abusive and “out of control” when under the influence. They said they believed the woman was acting in self-defence.
A police report stated that shortly after 7 pm they responded to a report of a stabbing at the house in Stanleyville. The woman allegedly told police they were arguing over his drinking and she stabbed him in the chest. She went to the kitchen and handed over a knife to the police. Balgobin was taken to the hospital where he died around 11.53 pm. Speaking with reporters yesterday, Balgobin’s son Terrance, 29, said he heard that the couple were arguing and had a scuffle.
He said, “I don’t know if he tried to interfere with her. I was not there. I cannot say and we cannot point any fingers. He was not a violent or bad person but he used to let alcohol control him.” When he drink he don’t know himself and he don’t care who is who. He not going to interfere or damage you, but he could cuss you, quarrel with you.”
He said relatives tried to encourage his father to stop drinking.
“I do not want to brandish my father. He was not all bad, but he used to let the alcohol control him. I wished he would have stopped. We tried to talk to him as much as we could. “
Terrance said only one of his four siblings still lives at the home, and several times the police were called to the house.
“Ask anyone in the village. When he is sober, you wouldn’t even know he is passing, he talking normal,” he explained.
Terrance said people would say negative things because they did not know the circumstances.
“Some days she would be trembling in her bedroom. She suffered from heart problems and high blood pressure and even if she didn’t get a night’s rest, she had to get up and cook three times a day.”
Lamenting that the suspect and his family had suffered enough, he said, “I want to see her walk free without anyone judging her. She is still in shock. I want to be here to support her,” he lamented.
Terrance said his father was receiving public assistance as he lost his left eye and had suffered a broken leg some time ago.
Balgobin was a grandfather of six.
More than 12 hours before this incident, 30-year-old Cepep worker Kadisha Weston-Ramsome was brutally chopped with a cutlass by a close male relative at her job site at Contention Road, Indian Walk, Princes Town.
The 45-year-old suspect allegedly tried to slit his throat. Weston-Ramsome underwent surgery and remains warded at the San Fernando General Hospital yesterday.
Investigations are continuing but the suspect is expected to be charged.