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Bus driver’s wife claims spouse ingested insecticide
…as controversy brews over post mortem results
Dead: Ovid Austin
The wife of minibus driver Ovid Austin says that her spouse confided that he had ingested the insecticide monocrotophos some hours before succumbing at the New Amsterdam Hospital.
Valerie Austin made the claim on Tuesday as conflicting reports emerged over exactly how the 69-year-old met his demise.
According to one source, an autopsy revealed that Austin had a blood clot in one of his lungs—called a pulmonary embolism—and this caused his sudden death.
The source added that no sign of poisoning was detected during the post mortem, and any dose he may have taken was insufficient to kill him.
But some police sources and family members allege that the autopsy revealed that the minibus driver succumbed to poisoning.
Some family members have even suggested that Austin might have been deliberately poisoned.
Police had questioned Austin’s 43-year-old wife but had not detained her.
The minibus driver collapsed at his Philadelphia Street, New Amsterdam home last week Thursday, and died the same night at the New Amsterdam Hospital.
Stressing that she would never harm her husband, Valerie Austin said that she and her spouse had quarreled at around 06:45 hrs last week Thursday after she scolded their youngest child.
She alleged that Austin then left the house. She and a sister left for the market and then went to the sister’s home.
Valerie Austin
Mrs. Austin said that at around 14:30 hrs, their 15-year-old son called to say that his father appeared to be dying and wanted her to come home.
It is alleged that when the son arrived home, his father was sitting on the steps, and a Sprite bottle containing a strange liquid was nearby.
Austin reportedly told the lad to collect his younger brother from school, and when the children returned, Austin was in the house, and the lad observed his father with the same bottle.
Kaieteur News was told that Austin then asked his son to ‘fan’ him. He then allegedly told the lad: “Don’t tell nobody that daddy drink something.”
According to reports, the son threw the contents of the bottle away but left the bottle on the front steps.
Austin reportedly then asked for a drink of water, but then vomited.
Mrs. Austin said that when she arrived, her spouse was ‘tearing off’ his clothes and asking to be fanned. She said that he also vomited repeatedly after drinking more water.
According to the woman, she called a neighbour who assisted in taking her ailing husband to a vehicle which transported him to the New Amsterdam Hospital.
She alleged that when they arrived, Austin informed a nurse that he had ingested monocrotophos. However, he reportedly claimed that he had ingested it by accident. According to Mrs. Austin, her husband explained to her that the medical staff would not tend to him if they thought he had taken the insecticide deliberately.
Mrs. Austin said that her husband was then placed in a ward. When she returned the following morning, he was dead.
She said that police ranks collected the bottle two days later and also questioned her.
“I had nothing to do with Ovid’s death. If I was at home at the time, I would have stopped him from drinking it.”
Austin fathered four children and his spouse told Kaieteur News that their relationship started when she was 17.
Austin’s relatives have alleged that Austin’s spouse failed to inform them that he had died and they only learned of his passing after some of the man’s friends offered their condolences.
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