If my mother was still alive I know that she would have forgiven that man. These were the sentiments shared by a grieving 24-year-old, Rakshita Dayal, who lost her mother hours after she last spoke to her.
Suman Lata, 46 was allegedly murdered by a man who then later locked her inside her bedroom and set fire to her Tomuka home in Lautoka on Monday afternoon. Ms Lata was a landlady managing four flats.
The alleged killer’s wife was welcomed by Ms Lata to reside with her for a couple of months after she was allegedly abused physically at her Nadi home.
Ms Dayal is a Chemistry and Biology teacher at Saint Vincent College in Tailevu. Yesterday, she shared that she received the devastating news while she was in class.
“I rejected the call twice from my neighbours because we cannot be using phones in the classrooms but when I saw my cousin calling, I answered,” she said.
“He just told me ‘the house is on fire’, I left immediately. While driving down I was thinking that maybe she (Ms Lata) had escaped the fire.”
She revealed that the alleged killer was a constant visitor to their Tomuka home who on many occasions would cause trouble and even tried to harm his wife twice in plain view of everyone else present.
“I was at home one time and he came, we had to chase him away because he wanted the wife to return to him and once accused us of breaking his family,” she said.
“She stayed with mum for a couple of months, we felt sorry for her as we are Christians, we wanted to pray and motivate her.”
She said that her last conversation with her mother was on Sunday when the call ended with a short prayer.
“Mum was a woman with a golden heart because she went through a lot in life and she always loved helping women. I miss her,” Ms Dayal added.
“She was a spiritual and simple lady.”
“God is the judge, we cannot hold things in our hands.”
The family is planning to hold Ms Lata’s funeral service this Saturday at the El Shaddai Church in Wairabetia, Lautoka.
Police confirmed that the alleged murderer surrendered himself at the Nadi Police Station and was escorted to the Lautoka Police Station where he was being questioned.
Investigations continue as Police investigators wait for the outcome of the post-mortem examination.
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