Court stops cremation, husband thrashed, rearrested

May 09, 2010 News

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…third autopsy ordered

By Latoya Giles and Neil Marks

High Court Judge, Rishi Persaud, yesterday granted a motion stopping the cremation of Bridgette Gangadeen. He also ordered a third autopsy.
The police also rearrested the dead woman’s husband, Dwarka Gangadeen, but not before he received a sound beating by the dead woman’s relatives in high drama at the Good Hope, East Coast Demerara foreshore.
It was the husband, Dwarka Gangadeen, who moved to the court to get the court order and secure his wife’s body after a Trinidadian pathologist – hired by the dead woman’s relatives –told Police investigators she was strangled.
When the husband showed up with the court marshal yesterday at the Good Hope foreshore where the woman was about to be cremated, relatives snatched him and dealt him a sound beating before he escaped the onslaught and headed out the cremation site.
Later, the husband was seen in a Police vehicle under heavy guard, while his relatives left the ground to avoid the rage of the relatives of the dead woman.

The court marshal also had to wrestle with angry relatives and friends who demanded to see his ID card. Amidst screams to ‘Light the fire, and bun she” from relatives, the marshal served the order of the court.
The relatives eventually agreed to release the body to Jerrick’s Funeral Parlour as demanded by the court order.
Bridgette Gangadeen’s body, with her head crushed, was found lying outside the Vigilance Police Station last weekend. Relatives claimed that the woman endured 14 years of abuse, and have claimed she was murdered. But in a sworn affidavit, the man claims a blissful marriage with “minor problems.”
The Police had initially said that they were treating the case as murder, and not as an accident. Police in the first post mortem report said she died of a fractured skull.
This did not satisfy the relatives who hired Trinidadian pathologist Hubert Dailey to conduct another post mortem.
Relatives of the dead woman paid some US$3000 to procure a Trinidadian pathologist Hubert Daisley, to perform a second post mortem examination. The pathologist who teaches pathology at the University of the West Indies performed the examination at the Georgetown Hospital mortuary.
According to the doctor’s report which was seen by this newspaper, the woman died as a result of strangulation with hemorrhage in a left strap muscle of the neck and left thyroid gland.
Court order…
The injunction which was granted by Justice Rishi Persaud, names the plaintiff as Dwarka Gangadeen and the defendants as Punarabattie Bharat also known as Punarabattie Sukdeo, Nandranie Bharat, Ravi Bharat, Sandra, Heerarlall Sukdeo and lastly Jerrick’s Funeral Home.
The order which was seen by this newspaper orders the defendants, their servants or otherwise from in any manner disposing of the body Bridgette Gangadeen, until further ordered by the court.
It was further stated that the husband is seeking damages in excess of $100,000 for the wrongful inference and trespass to the body of Bridgette Gangadeen.
The motion also orders and directs Jerrick’s Funeral Home not hand over the body to any of the named defendants or anyone acting on their behalf until ordered by the full court.
The injunction also orders that failing to complete a third post mortem on or before May 10, 2010 at 10:30am, the order would be automatically discharged.
Dwarka Gangadeen in his endorsement to claim, states that as the husband of the deceased he is fully entitled to undertake all funeral arrangements.
The claim also states that the husband is entitled to have conduct of the manner in which his wife’s body is disposed of whether it is by cremation or burial.
Furthermore, the husband in a sworn affidavit, said that he and his wife had been married for the past 16 years and bore three children, one of whom is residing in the USA.
He admitted that although their marriage was happy, there were a few minor glitches between them.
According to Gangadeen, the “minor misunderstanding” would normally be solved amicably.
Gangadeen refutes claims which suggest that he was violent to his wife, Bridgette.
“At no time or at all did I display violence towards my wife Bridgette” Gangadeen said in his affidavit.
It was further stated in the affidavit after he was released from police custody on May 6, last, he was informed by the police that his wife’s relatives had procured a foreign pathologist to do a second post mortem.
That pathologist contradicted the findings of the local pathologist who said that the woman died from a crushed skull.
The husband was then informed by the police that there was the likelihood that he would now be charged with murder.
Gangadeen therefore requested that another independent post mortem be conducted at the expense of his relatives.
Relatives procure foreign pathologist ….
One of the woman’s uncle, Heeralall Sukdeo, told Kaieteur News that they were not satisfied with the findings of the local pathologist, so they sought the help of a foreigner.
The uncle opined that his niece was never suicidal; and that the family is finding it very hard to believe that she jumped from a moving truck.
“My niece is not stupid; she is a fighter. She would not do that,” the man argued.
Attorney at law Basil Williams, who refrained from divulging too much, said that the Trinidadian pathologist even visited the vehicle and said it was highly impossible that the woman could have jumped from the vehicle and ended up underneath the wheel.
The lawyer further opined that if even if she fell from the truck, why didn’t she suffer any broken limbs?
One senior police official yesterday said that the file is being prepared to be sent back to the Director of Public Prosecutions, for advice since the new evidence has come forward.
On Sunday last, Dwarka Gangadeen, was detained by police about an hour after his wife’s mutilated body was discovered in front of the Vigilance Police Station. The woman’s skull was crushed by the rear wheel of the truck her husband was driving after she reportedly opened the passenger door and fell out.
Investigators had sought the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) after completing their report on the matter.
This newspaper was told that the DPP has requested additional information before giving definitive advice.

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