A FRENZIED attack that left two Queensland women dead in a double murder that shocked the country has sparked by an argument over alcohol, police will allege.
Balwinder Ghuman, 43, is accused of stabbing to death his wife Manjinder, 43, in a violent rage inside their Gordonvale home, south of Cairns, on Monday.
Ghuman is also accused of stabbing his father-in-law Sarwan Singh Ghuman, 72, in the chest as he tried to help the mother-of-two as she lay dying.
Police allege Ghuman then chased his crippled mother-in-law Sukhwinder Ghuman, 66, out the front door and across the road where he knifed her to death on the lawn of a neighbour’s home in front of shocked witnesses.
Witnesses have disturbing accounts of seeing a blood-covered, bare-chested Ghuman standing with a knife lying in a pool of blood nearby, as heavily-armed police surrounded and arrested him at the Wiltshire St crime scene.
“It’s horrific,” northern regional crime co-ordinator detective Superintendent Ray Rohweder said yesterday.
“It can only be described as a horrific, blood-soaked scene. It is something that sticks with you for the rest of your life.”
Ghuman has been charged with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and two other offences.
Supt Rohweder said it was believed a heated argument over her husband’s heavy drinking allegedly led to the brutal deaths of Mrs Ghuman and her mother, and the knife attack on other victims.
“It highlights the problem with domestic violence in our community,” he said.
“It is believed the offender had been drinking alcohol. It may have been the catalyst for the argument.”
Friend Graham Booysen, who worked at Cornetts IGA supermarket with Mrs Ghuman, told The Courier Mail the tragedy had shaken the tight-knit sugar town.
“Manjinder has worked here for 10 years,” he said. “Everyone loved her.”
Ghuman will face Cairns Magistrates Court this morning.
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