Guyanese grandad robbed, beaten to death in NY

Aug 20, 2010 News

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– taxi driver, accomplice charged

(New York Daily News) -What should have been a simple ride home ended in murder when a livery cab driver and his pal beat a passenger to death and dumped him on a Queens Street, authorities said.
Ramnarain Matadin, 58, was drinking heavily at a bar in Ozone Park on Sunday night until a bartender called to get him a ride home. Minutes later, a car from the Royal Car & Limo Services rolled up to the Golden Arrow Sports Bar on 101st Ave.
Three hours after the 10:30 p.m. phone call, a passerby found Matadin lifeless on Arion Road, a dead-end street.
“He was a great, loving person,” said his distraught wife, Bibi Matadin, 56, her voice trembling as she stood outside her family’s Ozone Park home. “He’s the reason we’re all here. My husband was the root sponsor for every one of my family that came to America.”
Police said surveillance video showed three men getting out of the livery cab, but only two of them stepped back inside. The video also captured the cab’s license plate, leading to the arrests.
Deevan Jagnarine, 21, a driver at Royal, and Alex Gobardhan, 19, were charged with second-degree murder and robbery, police said.
The defenseless grandfather’s belongings – a wallet, a gold bracelet and a cell phone – were found at the suspects’ Queens homes, cops said.
Police said Jagnarine picked up Matadin before scooping up his friend Gobardhan.
A law enforcement source said the men saw the late-night passenger as an “easy mark.” They drove to a dark street, robbed him and knocked him to the ground with a blow to the head.
Matadin, a Guyanese immigrant who worked as a building super in Park Slope, never regained consciousness.
Jagnarine, who was issued a TLC license in May 2009, had driven for Royal for a little over a year, said Deonarine Boodram, the car service owner.
“He was a normal person,” Boodram said of Jagnarine. “I never had a problem with him. It’s very, very surprising. He was a good driver.”
Boodram apologized to Matadin’s family.
“Sincerely, I said we are sorry and we send our concern and condolences,” he said.
Detectives are investigating whether Jagnarine and Gobardhan had pulled off similar crimes before.
“It’s very scary because you’re putting your trust in a driver,” said the victim’s niece, also named Bibi Matadin. “They should be concerned about the drivers that they have.”
The victim usually used a different car service, but may have been too intoxicated to call one on his own.
“Why did they kill him?” asked the dead man’s daughter Bibi Persaud, who had to be hospitalized after hearing about the murder.
“He was healthy,” she said as she broke down in tears. “It’s just shocking.”

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Expert Committee refers matter to Medical Council

By Sharmain Cornette

Having gained the attention of an Expert Committee, a recommendation has been made that the investigation into the maternal death of 38-year-old Waheeda Basil, which occurred at the West Demerara Regional Hospital, last May, be referred to the attention of the Guyana Medical Council.
This development according to Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, clearly suggests that the Committee was not satisfied with the procedure utilised by officials at the Regional Hospital leading up to the woman’s death.
However, the Minister noted that he is yet to ascertain whether the Chief Medical Officer has accepted the recommendation of Committee. “I had said that the Expert Committee should have free range to operate and that we should accept whatever is recommended, but I am yet to find out what is the current position,” the Minister disclosed.
According to reports reaching this newspaper, there is a likelihood that disciplinary action will be meted out to those found culpable for the woman’s death.
It was early last month that Minister Ramsammy said, “I can safely say that whatever are the recommendations made by the Committee I have instructed the Chief Medical Officer to implement them.”
Basil, who hailed from De Willem on the West Coast of Demerara, had died after giving birth at the West Demerara Hospital.
It was after an internal investigation was completed that the matter was referred to the Expert Committee by the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, for further investigation.
Minister Ramsammy had revealed that the Expert Committee by investigating the matter further was tasked with determining the way forward.
The Committee, according to the Minister, was made up of medical experts from both the private and public sectors. However he had revealed that the investigation was not limited to the committee members alone. They had the privilege to invite other experts to aid the process.
It was during the latter part of May that hospital officials had submitted their report of the maternal death to the CMO who had reviewed it and recognised that further investigation was necessary. Minister Ramsammy at that point had offered his suspicions that the CMO had found sufficient evidence which suggested that the maternal death was not normal.
“Based on a note I got from the CMO I believe that he has found enough for us to look into this matter. Once an investigation is called for, it usually means that we are not satisfied that the hospital did everything it could…”
As such, the Minister had revealed that Dr Persaud would have been tasked with streamlining the external investigation.
This move was characterised by the CMO’s requesting the intervention of the expert committee, whose members are not a part of the West Demerara Hospital, to undertake a thorough investigation.
They were expected to meticulously follow the processes that were undertaken from the time that the patient was admitted to the time of her death.
However, the Minister had asserted that though the need for an external investigation was warranted at that point, no one was being held culpable – a state of affairs, which could change should the expert committee so recommends.
“Though there seems to be a need for us to do our own investigation this doesn’t mean that anybody has done something wrong. Whenever a death occurs we regret it and we always investigate to ascertain that nothing was overlooked in the whole process, but we don’t just accuse anybody of wrongdoing without a thorough investigation,” the Minister had firmly asserted.
However, there have been reports that the maternal death could have been prevented had warning signs been adhered to. Dr Persaud had earlier speculated that the woman’s death could have been due to underlying cardiac problems, which may have gone unrecognised.
He had noted that although the patient was close to the age of 40 it appears that there was no detection of the condition during the course of her pregnancy. However, he had explained that this conclusion could only be ascertained after a thorough investigation into the matter concludes.
Kaieteur News was reliably informed that the woman who was previously a patient of the Meten-Meer-Zorg Health Centre was advised to travel to the West Demerara Regional Hospital after experiencing labour pains.
The woman was so advised, this newspaper learnt, because her delivery was even then seen as a high-risk one, a situation which was hinged on the fact that she had last given birth some 13 years ago and she was obese.
Accompanied by her husband, Deonarine Basil, the woman was admitted to the Regional Hospital and reports are that she safely gave birth to her third child.
However, it was revealed that shortly after giving birth, the woman started complaining of dizziness and died before the source of her dilemma could be ascertained.
A source close to the operation of the hospital revealed that the woman bled for nearly one hour before a doctor who was summoned arrived to attend to her. However, a senior official at the hospital in an invited comment had assured that “everything that could have been done was done to save this woman’s life.

The husband was there and he knows that the nurses and the doctors did everything that was possible.”

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