Body of GuySuCo employee found

Jun 11, 2014 News

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The badly decomposed body of 56-year-old sluice attendant Christendatt Madramootoo of Gangaram Settlement, East

Canje, Berbice, was discovered by relatives early yesterday morning in the Tucber, New Amsterdam backlands.
Madramootoo, employed by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo)’s Rose Hall Estate, went missing after he left home for the Reliance Backdam around 21:00 hrs (9pm) on Sunday. He never returned home the following day from the 9-5 shift. The mystery deepens as the man’s bicycle, clothes; bag, hat, footwear and torchlight were all found at the work site. His employment with GuySuCo began in 1972, as a cane harvester.
His brother-in-law, Ramnarine Koopasammy, who made the gruesome discovery, stated that they were travelling along the Berbice River bank around 06:20 hrs yesterday in a GuySuCo search-boat, “and we see his body on the parapet of the right bank—behind Tucber Scheme.”
Koopasammy stated that Madramootoo was only clad in his underwear and his body was swollen.

DISAPPEARANCE
The dead man’s son, Lakeram Madramootoo, said that his father left as usual for work on Sunday evening for the 9-5 shift and was supposed to have reached back home around 05:30 hrs as he normally does. He never did.
“He ain’t come off work because I ain’t know what transpired—until eight o’ clock [then] we get message that my father missing.”
Madramootoo’s workmate who was working the 4pm-midnight shift, and who would have been on the site, upon Madramootoo’s arrival, is reported to be in custody at the Reliance Police Station. That attendant would have been on a shift across the backlands at Lochaber in the Canje Creek.
The man’s son explained that his father would normally have to flash his torchlight across the other side of the Lochaber end of the Canje River  so that the workmate could respond with the boat and collect him from the other side. From all indications, it appears that Madramootoo never reached the Lochaber side since all of his belongings were left on the side of the Reliance backlands.

SPEEDY BURIAL
His family was in a rush yesterday to bury the corpse as it had become badly decomposed. They gathered at the Arokium Funeral Parlour at Philadelphia Street, New Amsterdam, the only parlour that would accept the corpse. The stench that emanated was almost unbearable. The family was dissatisfied with the Administration of the New Amsterdam Hospital who they accuse of refusing to do a post mortem on the body. Government Pathologist Dr. Vivekanand Brijmohan was also present at the funeral parlour and was heard discussing possible causes of death, including drowning.

REFUSAL TO DO POST MORTEM

Lakeram Madramootoo was furious at the hospital for refusing to perform the post mortem on his father, “because they said the body was too rotten.” He complained that if the police had arrived earlier on the scene yesterday morning, a post mortem might have been done since the body, he believed, was well – preserved.  The body was at the N/A Hospital from 06:30 hrs to 08:30 hrs yesterday, awaiting the examination, and relatives were just told that it was not possible due to the stench and decomposition.
“I can’t understand N/A Hospital don’t have a freezer for things like this—why is it? We ain’t pleased with the police or the hospital. It’s like all around we get push-around!”
The son believes his father was murdered.
“I get a feeling that my father was murdered—that is the feeling I get! He don’t drink or smoke…He is not a violent person.”
When asked who would want to do such a thing, the man’s son said, “I don’t know…I have no idea because in work and dem things, people does get spite over people.”
When asked about the individual who telephoned the family early that morning, the son said that that looks very suspicious.
“When we see his boots and bags and stuff, it was not a robbery—it’s like somebody wanted to get rid of he!”
Speaking about Madramootoo’s workmate, he said, “I don’t know if he was drunk or asleep or what because he said nobody ain’t call he.”
A person of interest, too, in this mystery would be the male who telephoned the family early Monday morning enquiring from Mrs. Madramootoo if her husband had returned home. She said the person never identified themself. She also pointed out that her husband knew how to swim.
“He don’t drink or don’t smoke—he’s a quiet person,” a distraught Esther Madramootoo related. “They say they can’t do the post mortem—that he body is spoiled—and the owner of this parlour is not allowed to do it and N/A Hospital don’t want to do it.”
Meanwhile, GuySuCo officials at Rose Hall Estate continued to be tight-lipped about the incident, refusing to take this newspaper’s numerous telephone calls. New Amsterdam Hospital officials also could not be reached for comment.

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