Dark days for South familyBy AZARD ALI Sunday, May 31 2009
The Indian Arrival weekend is a joyous time of celebrations, the Indo-Trini community having contributed so much to life in the society.
But for the Chatoor family of Gulf View, La Romaine, a traditional family of doctors, lawyers, a magistrate, chemical engineer and a teacher, it is a weekend of grief. A mother, father, two surviving sisters and four brothers, have returned home from Australia, England, Canada and Jamaica, to bury their sister, Margaret Parsad who was brutally murdered last week by her common law husband who refused to let her go.
After slitting her throat with a chopper, he drank poison and killed himself.
Margaret’s brother Ralph, 47, a lawyer and chemical engineer, summed up the tragedy yesterday. “I don’t know if it is an Indian thing, but it seems that Satanana Maharaj, the common-law husband who killed my sister, still holds on to the old saying that when a girl leaves her father’s house she leaves as a bride, but when she leaves her husband’s house, she must leave as a corpse.”
The Chatoor family is well known and respected in Gulf View, La Romaine.
Margaret’s son, Chris, 21, with her first husband attorney Shastri Parsad, is a final-year law student in London. He arrived at the home in Gulf View on Friday morning.
On Monday, the day of his mother’s death, he had two examinations for the bar finals in London. His aunt, Senior Counsel Lynette Maharaj, broke the news to him. “I still went and did my exams,” he said yesterday.
Growing up in the traditional East Indian family, Margaret’s life was ordained from a young age. She was to become either a doctor or lawyer because her father Merwahlal Chatoor, wanted his children to follow the proferssional path. Chatoor was a self-educated man who, growing up in Fyzabad, insisted to his children that education was the only exit from poverty.
Margaret, 52, qualified as the fourth attorney in the family of seven. Two brothers are specialist medical doctors, one is a chemical engineer and a lawyer.
After 15 years in private practice and marriage to south attorney Shastri Parsad, Margaret formed a common law relationship with Maharaj.
On Monday morning, Maharaj ended her life at her law chambers on Gordon Street, San Fernando. Her slaying was described by her father, Chatoor, 83, as an act of a psychotic mind.
After killing Margaret, Maharaj drank an entire bottle of gramoxone — ending his own life. Three years before, Margaret had tried to end the relationship with him and took out a restraining order against him.
Margaret had converted part of her law chambers on Gordon Street, into living quarters where she resided alone. Her other child with attorney Parsad, Priya, 17, lives with her father.
On Monday morning, Margaret’s law clerk, Dwayne Douglas, discovered her body when he arrived for work around 8 am. He found it unusual that the lights were off in the building, but the garage gates were unlocked. Margaret kept the lights on at the back and front of the offices since she lived alone in there.
According to Douglas, she had completely severed ties with Maharaj and he was not allowed on the premises.
Puzzled at the fact that the law offices remained closed, Douglas tried to reach Margaret by office telephone but got no answer. “I then called her cell and got no answer. I began to get very worried,” Douglas said.
When Margaret’s secretary, Derecia Edwards, arrived, she too began trying to reach Margaret by telephone with no response. It was then Douglas noticed Maharaj’s van parked in a nearby parking lot.
“It is then I got frightened and I told Derecia to walk up to the police station. I went around the building but could see nothing,” Douglas said.
Chatoor, 83, who was at the time walking up the stairs of the High Court, was informed by Derecia of the situation. He walked across to his daughter’s offices and gave instructions for Douglas to break the lock on the door.
Douglas said he used the handle of a car jack and broke the lock on the burglar proofed front door.
“I ask Mr Chatoor to stay outside and I went in. At first I did not see anything,” Douglas said. “It is when I pushed back the door leading to Margaret’s quarters, I saw her. She was lying next to her bird cages. There was blood all over. You couldn’t make her out,” Douglas said.
Douglas rushed back into the law chambers, pushed the bathroom door open and saw Maharaj lying on the ground.
At his Penny Avenue, Gulf View home where the family of four sons and three daughters moved to from Avocat Village, Chatoor philosophised about his daughter’s slaying: “Beneath the veneer of civilisation, lies the raw claw of the beast.” He recalled how he instilled in Margaret and his other children the value of a good education in order to overcome poverty. “I kept telling them, I cannot give you money, but an education,” he said.
Chatoor was a school principal and a Schools Supervisor III. He told Sunday Newsday that he never went to college. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts in History through a British correspondence course. He then pursued a Master’s Degree in education and retired as principal and Ministry of Education supervisor at 65. When Chatoor was 71, he studied law and graduated from Sir Hugh Wooding Law School. His daughter Margaret was already in private practice.
Chatoor’s elder son and Margaret’s elder brother, Russell, 54, is a child heart specialist in Jamaica. Second son, Roger, is a cardiologist in Australia, while Dave, 32, is a colon research medical scientist at London University hospital. Daughter Vashty Chatoor is a botanist but also studied law and presides as a magistrate in Jamaica.
The fourth son, Ralph, lives in Canada and is a chemical engineer and lawyer. Their sister Sylverine Medford, 58, is a secondary school teacher.
Margaret attended Naparima Girl’s College, San Fernando, and had a penchant for perfection, never gaining less than distinction or credit since primary School days at Grant Memorial School, San Fernando.
Elder brother Russell, said Margaret was his twin. He recalled: “She was such a perfectionist, if she was driving on the road and a truck was behind, she will pull aside to let it past,” he said.
Her brother said that they established a closer bond with Margaret when she was married to attorney Parsad. And when they returned home for vacation, they would assist her with her law practice.
During their marriage, Margaret and Parsad had their law chambers together in the same building on Gordon Street. “Even though they had that bond, we felt something wasn’t there,” Russell said.
When Margaret and Parsad were divorced, the family gravitated closer to their sister because they felt she needed their support.
Since Monday, the family has been holding nightly prayer sessions conducted by a Presbyterian pastor at their Gulf View home. And on Thursday, a Hindu musical group sang bhajans.
Ralph said he was sure Margaret had on her desk in her office, a copy of the Domestic Violence Act on the morning she was killed. “My sister disliked advantage being taken of women. We used to talk how our aunts would come to our homes after their husbands beat them. We were small and they always sought refuge by us. We took them to the hospital only to see them return to their home for more licks. Margaret grew up seeing that. Maybe, that is why she was able to tolerate so much from Maharaj,” Russell said.
The Chatoor family didn’t have much to do with Maharaj. They felt there was an intellectual gap between Margaret and Maharaj, but observed he was obssessed with her.
Maharaj was a hardware salesman who tried his hand at politics. He put himself up for screening by the PNM to contest the Pointe-a-Pierre seat. When he was refused the candidacy, Maharaj joined the UNC. He then switched to the COP.
Margaret’s funeral takes place tomorrow.
