A heart-wrenching plea by Rachael Sukhdeo, wife of Sheron Sukhdeo, was enough to ensure a magistrate let the millionaire car dealer free on charges of breaching a three-year protection order.
However, before freeing Sukhdeo, Magistrate Wendy Dougdeen-Bally told his wife a leopard does not change his spots.
She told the crying woman, who had secured the protection order one month after she was allegedly assaulted by her husband last year, that she would instruct police to charge her with wasting police time if she ever reneges on her police complaints again.
This was the second time Rachael had forced the termination of a case initiated by her.
In February last year, Sukhdeo appeared in court for allegedly assaulting his wife.
The case was dismissed eight months later after Sukhdeo said she no longer wanted to pursue the matter.
Sukhdeo was again charged in May this year for allegedly breaking a three-year order barring him from coming into contact with his wife physically or verbally abusing her. That protection order was granted by Magistrate Joanne Connor in March last year. His assault case against his wife was dismissed in October.
Sukhdeo is also currently before the courts charged with receiving two stolen vehicles and is on $200,000 bail.
When the case was called in the Chaguanas Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Rachael, accompanied by attorney Ian Brooks, cried openly in court saying she had forgiven her husband, who had to move out the family’s Orchard Gardens, Chaguanas mansion due to the order.
Police officers close to the case said the matter could still have been prosecuted despite her appeal, adding that in domestic cases some officers will not force a victim to testify if they don’t want to. But an officer said if a victim does not want justice for themselves there is very little the police can do.