On his knees beside her coffin, Dipchand Heeralal admonished his daughter, Terisha, for not heeding his warnings to leave an abusive relationship.
With his hands held out in front of him, Heeralal, 64, stared at Terisha’s body and cried: “Why you didn’t listen?”
His emotional breakdown took place during the funeral service for Terisha, 31, at his Piparo home yesterday.
Terisha, a mother of two, was chopped to death around 1 am on Wednesday by a close male relative.
Heeralal said the man had a history of being abusive towards his daughter. Terisha’s 13-year-old daughter was also injured in the attack.
Her mother, Taramatie Bridgelal, sat in a chair next to the coffin, caressing her daughter’s face and repeating: “My dolly, my pretty dolly,” while she wept.
When Terisha’s body was brought to her parents’ home for the last time yesterday, she was dressed in a flowing white dress with a silver tiara on her head.
During the service, Reverend Robert Sookermany described Terisha as a pleasant person. He said in a recent conversation with her, she had vowed to settle down and serve God.
“She was ready to do the right thing, to settle down and do what is right to please God,” he said.
Telling mourners to do right while they still have the chance, Sookermany said: “One day, we will all be called to account for what we did and didn’t do, even the man who did this to her will have to face God on Judgment Day.”
He urged the family not to let bitterness take over their lives. “In your grief don’t let the bitterness of what happened take over your lives, don’t let it hang over your lives, let the law take its course and one day you will get justice for your daughter,” he said.
Terisha’s body was taken to the Shore of Peace cremation site after the service for cremation.
The T&T Guardian contacted an investigator in Terisha’s case who confirmed yesterday her killer was still at large. The investigator said police are continuing to search the bushy areas in Piparo for him.