A quiet rural community in southern Trinidad is reeling from a devastating double fatality, after the bodies of 23-year-old Giselle Ougrah and her 27-year-old boyfriend Stefan Khandan were discovered in their rented Penal apartment on Friday night. For both grieving families, the tragedy was not entirely unforeseen: all relatives have confirmed they repeatedly warned the pair about their increasingly unstable, harmful relationship, and made multiple attempts to convince them to separate permanently.
The couple had lived in their small apartment on Sundarsingh Trace, Batchiya Village, for approximately four months, after they were asked to leave Khandan’s family home due to frequent violent conflicts between the pair. Initial investigative findings from local law enforcement suggest Ougrah was killed by stabbing, with a 10-inch knife recovered as evidence from the crime scene, and Khandan is believed to have died by suicide shortly after. The couple were last confirmed to be alive on Wednesday, two days before their bodies were found.
Concern grew after Ougrah failed to return home as expected, prompting her older sister and brother-in-law to travel to the apartment to conduct a welfare check just after 8 p.m. on Friday. After getting no response to knocks and calls, one of the pair scaled an exterior wall to look into the unit, spotting Khandan hanging and Ougrah motionless on a bed. They immediately contacted the Penal Police Station, and responding officers forced entry to confirm the deaths.
Autopsies are scheduled to be carried out at the Forensic Science Centre in Federation Park in the coming days, and official causes of death will be released once examinations are complete. Law enforcement has confirmed that the full circumstances surrounding both deaths remain active under investigation.
Family accounts have revealed the couple began their relationship roughly one year ago, shortly after Khandan was released from prison where he had served a sentence for robbery and home invasion. Both families spoke publicly to the *Sunday Express* about their repeated efforts to intervene.
Speaking from her home in Torrib Trace, New Grant, Ougrah’s grieving mother Feroza Ali held a photo of her late daughter and described her as a devout, educated, ambitious young woman who had earned strong marks on her Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination, and had recently enrolled in an entrepreneurship training programme. Ali said she and multiple other family members repeatedly warned Ougrah about Khandan’s history and character, but Ougrah chose to continue the relationship despite their concerns. “Several times they broke up in the past and she knows she always welcomed by me, but then she goes back (to him),” Ali explained.
Ali recalled that just days before the deaths, Ougrah had moved back home with her belongings after a breakup, but left on Wednesday evening after telling her mother she was going to a mall for dinner, and left with Khandan. Ali did not realize her daughter had not returned home until Friday, when her other daughters raised concerns about Ougrah’s silence. Initially, the elder sister contacted Penal Police to request a welfare check, but was unable to provide the exact apartment address, which is required for police to conduct a check. It was only after the pair drove to the neighbourhood themselves that they found the apartment and made the grim discovery.
In the wake of losing her daughter, Ali issued a heartfelt warning to other young people about rushing into romantic relationships. “Take time and get to know the individual,” she said. “Do not get into something and then learn about the person. A relationship is not something to rush.”
Khandan’s family is also grappling with grief, and confirmed they too saw the relationship as dangerous. Tony Khandan, Stefan’s father, said he last saw his son on Monday, when Stefan came to help with home repairs. Tony noticed his son seemed unwell and asked what was wrong, and Stefan told him “I am having real problems with that girl.” Tony asked his son to move back into the family home, but got no response, and Stefan left around 4:30 p.m. that day.
Tony recalled that the couple fought constantly during the year they were together, and that he often had to step in to break up violent arguments when they were staying at his home in Boucard Trace, Penal. He eventually asked the couple to move out, leading them to rent the Batchiya Village apartment. “My son had his ignorant ways, but I did not expect it to reach so far,” Tony said, adding that Ougrah’s mother was the one who broke the news of the pair’s deaths to him. “I love my son. I love all of my children. I do my best for them.”
Stacy Ann Khandan, Stefan’s sister, echoed the family’s description of the relationship as “toxic”, saying she had tried to provide counselling and guidance to the pair to help them end the relationship. She recalled that on Monday, just two days before the deaths, she and her brother cooked a meal together for the family, and he gave her a long goodbye hug before he left. “Everyone has faults, but I had a bond with my brother,” she said. “We are in mourning and we lost.”
Local residents of Sundarsingh Trace said the couple kept to themselves, but were always polite when passing through the neighbourhood. Indrani Bhagoutie, a local resident, said she noticed the couple had not been around for a few days, but spotted Khandan carrying a pizza near her home on Wednesday. “She said she heard nothing from them in the next few days and was shocked to learn of the deaths of the young couple.