Dead attorney’s clerk accused of estate fraud

May 13, 2008 News

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…served with injunction

A clerk of dead attorney Henry Desmond McKenzie-Agard, who is accused of naming herself heiress to his estate, embellishing his will and swindling his savings, had legal proceedings filed against her yesterday.

The woman, Dianne Williams, was served with an injunction granted by Justice Winston Patterson during a chamber hearing yesterday at the Supreme Court.

Attorney-at-Law Gaumatie Singh filed the ex-parte application on behalf of the dead man’s son, Lester Agard.

Williams, for the past 15 years, was employed as legal clerk to Henry Desmond Mckenzie-Agard, who died at his 95 Garnett Street, Lamaha Gardens residence on April 2, 2008.

The injunction restrains Williams from interfering or meddling with any of the dead man’s assets.
It also restrains Hand-in-Hand Trust Company from disbursing any monies from Mr. Mckenzie-Agard’s fixed deposit account.
Lester Agard is also seeking an order that three ‘wills’ and ‘testaments’ dated June 7, 2001; May 21, 2004 and December 14, 2007 are null and void.
The younger Agard, who resides in London, insists that his father died intestate (without leaving a will).
In an affidavit, the younger Agard said he is one of two beneficiaries and administrators to his father’s estate. Lester Agard stated that the other beneficiary is his sister, Lesley Agard-Disan, who left for the United States 30 years ago.
The man’s son claimed that, at the time of his death, his father was a widower with only two children.
“My sister…left the jurisdiction for more than 30 years, and never returned…I have been the one coming all the time to spend time with my father.” Lester Agard listed his father’s major assets as a fixed deposit account, a plot of land at 97 Area J, Lamaha Gardens, and a property at 95 Area J, Lamaha Gardens.
Upon his father’s death, Agard said, he found three last wills and testaments purportedly made by his father during his lifetime.
He disclosed that the first will was made months after his father obtained a transport from his dead wife’s estate.
Assessing the construction of the wills, Agard said he became suspicious that they were constantly upgraded to the benefit of Dianne Williams.
The second will was even lodged by Williams with the Probate Registry.
“It is amazing to note that the deceased had his chambers within such short distance from the Probate Registry yet he chose to authorize the defendant to lodge same.”
Even more coincidental is the fact that one of the witnesses, Maureen Springer, was present in the year 2001, when the first will was made, to sign as a witness, and again in 2004, to sign as a witness when the second will was made, Agard observed.
He added that it was suspicious that the witnesses to the third will signed on a sheet of paper with no writing.
Agard said he also learnt that his father signed the third will at his birthday party, although none of his friends witnessed the will.
“I am fully aware of the fact that my father would not have signed any of those wills had it been brought to his knowledge that he was signing his last will. I am also confident that my father would not have made his last will in secrecy of none of his close friends.”
The dead man’s son said he believes that his father was not aware that he was signing a will and may have thought his signatures were pertinent to documents of his clients.
“I am confident that my father would not have given any of his assets to the defendant, especially since he was aware that she had literally exhausted his savings account with another bank using the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) Card.”
Agard said that after learning he was being swindled, his father ceased all substantial business using the account.
On April 23, 2008, Agard said, he filed a caveat in the Registry on the estate of his father. According to the plaintiff, the wills were made under suspicious circumstances and with intention to defraud the estate.
Williams has until May 21 to enter an appearance at the Supreme Court.
Battered wife stabs reputed husband
A Mahaica woman, who probably could take no more of her husband’s abuse, is in Police custody after she stabbed the father of her six-month-old baby at their Unity, Mahaica home yesterday afternoon.
Up to late last night, doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation were battling to save the life of Harry Narine, who was stabbed once in his left side chest, at about 18:00 hours, shortly after he had returned home from his mother’s.
Police say that they detained his wife, Parbattie Deonarine, called Geeta, at her home a few minutes after the incident.
According to the wounded man’s sister, Narine had spent Mother’s Day at his mother, and had returned home yesterday afternoon.
She said that, a few minutes later, she was at her home when she received a message that her brother was stabbed by his reputed wife. She and others assisted in taking him to the hospital.
Deonarine, who arrived at the hospital a few minutes after her husband, told this newspaper that she had endured a life of constant abuse. She said that the abuse persisted despite the fact that she was still nursing a six-month-old baby.
She showed this newspaper visible marks of violence on her body, which she said were inflicted by her husband with a piece of wire.
Deonarine said that she never reported the matter to the Police, “because he ah me husband”.
She explained that yesterday Narine came home and found her lying on the concrete floor with the baby and began abusing her both, verbally and physically.
According to the woman, after Narine began striking her, she grabbed a knife that was within her hand reach and stabbed him.
“Me fire a juk and run away. Me nah know how bad he deh,” she told this newspaper.
Medical officials say that, despite the loss of a significant amount of blood, Harry Narine was in a stable but critical condition.

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