Family of US citizen demands homicide investigation into poison overdose

Sep 18, 2014 News

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The family of a U.S. Citizen who died on August 30, last, at the New Amsterdam Hospital after ingesting a large quantity of Gramoxone is calling on the police in Berbice to launch a full homicide investigation into the incident.

The woman’s two sons, both of whom reside in the USA, are accusing a Tain, Corentyne male, who was married to their mother, of murder. They showed Kaieteur News the death certificate with the cause of violent death as homicide. They are perplexed about the police refusal to treat the matter as such.
Rookmanie Baichoo, 51, of New York, USA, a Marriott Hotel employee, lived in a very abusive relationship with her husband, Amzad Baichoo, of Tain, Corentyne.
According to her son, Seenauth Ramlakhan, Baichoo would visit Guyana every six months to see Amzad. She continued to remain in the abusive relationship. On August 29, 2014, Baichoo turned up at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport to check-in for a New York flight, but her sons said that the husband  prevented her from doing such and seized all of her travel documents; took her back to Berbice where  they apparently got into a physical altercation.
They showed this newspaper photographs of the woman’s head in bandages and bruised hands and body.
On that same night, August 29, the couple returned to the house at Tain and was reportedly involved in a heated argument. The sons, who were in NY at the time, said that their mother then visited the Albion Police Station where a report of domestic abuse was made, “and they [the police] did nothing.”
Her cousin, Raul Boodhu, said that he picked her up at the police station after she made the report and reluctantly drove her back to the house. He took her back to the house and observed the marks of violence about her body.
“After she went back to the house, she went upstairs— [Amzad] left the house opened…and there were three one-liter bottles of gramoxone.” Boodhoo said that he did not see Amzad when he dropped off the woman.
“Whilst driving home, she was trying to jump out of my car and I stopped the car. I told her if she want to go home, it’s her choice.” Boodhu stated that he told the woman not to go back into the house.
“She walked back to the man’s house around 20:30 hrs and I drive home,” he said.
It was around 22:30 hrs when Boodhu decided to make another check at the house and said he found Mrs. Baichoo lying on the floor. “I picked her up and took her to Port Mourant Hospital; and she refused to drink the water.” She was then rushed to the New Amsterdam Hospital. Boodhu added that he did not observe anyone else in the house at the time he found the woman.
“I don’t think she know where directly the poison sells and to buy poison. Somebody [probably] used her to buy these drugs,” he added.
She had purchased the poison a few days prior to that night, her son said. “He claimed that my mom wanted the gramoxone to fly back out to the States, but my mom being a citizen and flying back and forth…you know the rules…you cannot take more than three ounces and cannot take poisons like that to the States,” he said.
Ramlakhan is assuming that Amzad knew what time the woman purchased the poison and what store she went to buy it. “So we think it was staged.”
Baichoo’s body was found by the cousin later that night in the house and she was rushed to the N/A Hospital, where she was admitted to the Emergency department. She died the following day.
The couple was legally married in 2010. He (husband) was close to getting his U.S. Resident status. “Whenever she comes down here (Guyana), he would always beat her,” he added. “Everybody knows that the only reason why he married her was for the visa and for the money…‘cause he already got two wives,” Ramlakhan posited.
The sons added that to date, they have not been able to access the post- mortem report from the New Amsterdam Hospital to verify the cause of death, even though the Certificate of Death issued by Government Medical Officer attached to the New Amsterdam Hospital, Dr. R. Easton certified that the woman died of respiratory distress; multiple organ failure and ingestion of gramoxone.
Additionally, Dr. Easton prepared a fully-signed statement, stating that during his time as a doctor, no patient of his ever consumed an entire bottle of the poison. “It’s either a mouthful, a teaspoon or a few milliliters.” He added that the taste and the rapid effects it has on the body, “would prohibit anybody from ingesting an entire bottle, the average bottle size being about 500ml.”
Baichoo consumed one-and-a-half bottles of the poison. There were three one-litre bottles in the house that night. The relatives believe the husband committed the act.
The family is upset that the police closed the case on the matter and did not even arrest Mr. Baichoo for questioning into the woman’s death. They are accusing the local police here of a cover- up and even approached the U.S. Embassy for assistance but was unable to do so, since the embassy cannot get involved in the business of the local police force here.
The sons added that one Criminal Investigations Department rank, Beharry, attached to the Whim Police Station who was dealing with the matter, stated that he needed the Certificate of Death which they produced, and then later asked for the post- mortem report, but the sons cannot get that from the hospital as yet.
The woman’s other son, Premnauth Ramlakhan, believes foul play is amiss.  “Foul play happened here…We went to Whim Police Station— they didn’t want to take a statement from us— it’s all a cover- up,” he stated. “It’s a big cover-up— the police here is corrupt.”
He spoke to the Commander of ‘B’ Division, Mr. Brian Joseph. “This guy’s running free and he committed a crime,” he added.
The family also claimed that their mother had US$30,000 with her at the time of her death and allege that a ‘pay- off’ could have taken place here. The cash, along with her cellular phone, could not have been accounted for after her death.
The son noted that the family tried on several occasions to tell Mrs. Baichoo to get out of the abusive relationship but to no avail.
“They (the police) said they cannot hold him or question him because she’s already dead and she cannot testify that he beat her even though she filed a report with these bruise marks,” he added. “And they said that these beat marks are not because of the death and they cannot do anything…but the doctor is saying that the amount of poison (ingested) taken into her body, that it’s abnormal.”
‘B’ Division Commander, Mr. Brian Joseph is currently on leave. Several efforts to get Acting Commander Marlon Chapman; CID Beharry and Amzad Baichoo, proved futile.

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