Dateline: Vengeance

If you missed Dateline this past weekend, you missed an incredible story.  Seemona Sumasar dated a man by the name of Jerry Ramrattan.  She was a hard-working immigrant woman living in Queens, New York, who held two jobs.  She worked at Morgan Stanley during the day, and came home to run a restaurant that she owned at night.

Ramrattan eventually moved in with Sumasar.

Then one day she received a phone call from Ramrattan’s wife saying he was married. Sumasar had no idea! She was very upset and asked Ramrattan to move out. She says a couple of weeks went by and he wasn’t leaving so she asked him to leave again.

It is clear by watching Sumarsar that the two had an argument the night as she claimed and things went south, but I have to say I find her puzzling as well.  Her facial expressions and demeanor stand out to me.

She claims that Ramrattan raped her that evening, but he says it was a lie.

After she reported the assault to police and said she was raped, he hatched a plan to frame Sumasar for armed robberies, and his plan was a success. It happened over many months, but he got three people to say they were robbed by Sumasar.  Police investigated the story and it seemed credible because the eye-witnesses/victims could clearly ID Sumasar and her car–giving them her license plate numbers.  She was eventually arrested and thrown in jail to await trial.  She spent seven months in jail –all the while no one believed her.

Thankfully, one of people Ramrattan convinced to frame Sumasar finally told law enforcement the truth, and police finally believed Sumasar, and locked up Ramrattan.  He was just recently tried and convicted of her rape, and other crimes involving framing Sumasar. He was sent to prison for 32 years.

Without any doubt, what Ramrattan did was outrageous and wrong.  I think he should absolutely be locked up for his actions.  However, when I look at the two of them, I don’t see this case as black and white.  I see shades of gray.

Both of these people are head-strong, obstinate and I personally think they butted heads and neither would back down.  I think tempers flared and each one was going to make the other pay.   Each of them was on a mission– a mission of revenge, and it escalated and escalated.

People naturally feel forced to decide that one person is lying and the other is telling the truth, and we can see that in this case. Police at first didn’t believe Sumasar, and then they didn’t believe Ramrattan–and this case continued on a black and white platform, but what if there are shades of gray here?

I personally suspect there are…

It’s not that I think Sumasar had anything to do with armed robberies. I do not believe she did.  But I wonder what happened that night at her house.  I somehow don’t think we got all the details, or the full truth.

If we ever find out the entire truth, I suspect this case will have even more shades of gray.

I also believe that Sumasar has infuriated Ramrattan to the highest degree, and she needs to take his threats very seriously. When he was sentenced he spoke out and said this isn’t over. I think this guy could be capable of causing Sumasar some serious, serious harm–even from prison.  I don’t think he is finished with her yet.  She needs to watch her back for years to come.