The woman who once assisted her now estranged husband in taking care of the “missing” octogenarian Noelina Prospere-Medor has disputed what the woman’s son says and insists that she has no idea where the elderly woman is.
The woman, who preferred not to be named, insisted that she had nothing to hide. She was held by police for two days even after she denied any knowledge of where her husband had taken Prospere-Medor.
She said the treatment meted out to her by the police was unfair and no one attempted to listen to her position. She was later interviewed by a commander and he assessed the situation and decided that she be released from custody.
Speaking with Stabroek News yesterday, the woman said she was not a relative of Prospere-Medor, but got to know her through her now-estranged husband.
She said she was upset to read Sylvester Medor’s account of the scenario and insisted the man’s motives were not solely over his mother’s well-being. The woman told this newspaper that when she married in 2004, she was introduced to the elderly woman and told that she was her husband’s godmother. She said at that time she had no idea, nor was she told that the woman had a son. She said all she gathered through conversations with her husband about the woman was that she had lived in London for some time and had married and come to Guyana. She said she also learned that the woman and her husband had legally separated and he apparently went back to St Lucia to live, while she settled here in Albouystown.
She said the only other person she knew to be in the life of the elderly woman was another man who assisted her husband with taking care of her. However, he subsequently died.
According to the woman, from time to time she and her husband visited Prospere-Medor and she seemed to be doing well. Later, it became obvious that the elderly woman was not managing well on her own. She said the woman’s house was in a deplorable state and spots of blood were observed on the floor. Closer observation revealed that the woman had suffered a head wound. She said her husband took the woman to the hospital where she was given medication. She said the woman then spent some time in a geriatric home and all that time there was no word that she had a son. She said the woman also never spoke of having a son.
She said it was when they decided to go through some of the woman’s documents to ensure that no important documents were destroyed that they found a letter which contained information about Sylvester Medor.
“So we decided to explore all avenues and we made calls to the British High Commission here and eventually were able to make contact with the son,” she said.
She added that the man was given a complete brief on the woman’s condition and was advised that he should visit Guyana.
According to her the man made it clear that he could not make time to come to Guyana and said that he had not contacted his mother in more than 40 years. She said that by this time the elderly woman had entrusted her now-estranged husband with the Power of Attorney.
She said efforts were made to value the woman’s Albouystown property and all the necessary information was faxed to London to her son who then decided that he would come to Guyana.
“This was in either late November or early December last year [2007] and we met with him,” she said.
According to her, her husband and Medor discussed the woman’s sustenance since her husband had always said that she had done a lot for him when he was a child and so he vowed to always ensure that her well-being was looked after.
She said they entered into a verbal agreement that since the woman was already with the family they would take care of her and her son would ensure her financial sustenance. This agreement, she said, was constructed in terms of the woman’s daily needs for food, detergent, pampers, caregiver fees and medication. She showed this newspaper the breakdown of the woman’s needs which was pegged at $66,650 per month.
She said Medor had no objections to the agreement at that time and said he would use his mother’s UK-generated pension to sustain her in Guyana. He subsequently sent $39,000 three times and $9,000 three times.
She admitted that when the first set of money came she advised him that it was not enough since she was working and had to pay a caretaker to look after his mother when she was not at home. Months later, she said, she and her husband separated and Medor no longer sent any money but she maintained the woman from her earnings. All of this occurred between December last year and June this year, when her husband decided that in view of their separation, he would take the woman with him. She said that was the last time she saw Prospere-Medor. However, she said, from time to time when her husband called she would ask for the woman and he always said she was in good health.
The woman told Stabroek News that Medor’s interest in his mother might have stemmed from the fact that the power of attorney which her husband had was preventing him from dealing with the Albouystown property, since he had spent a lot on lawyer’s fees for paperwork.
“The whole thing is to get her to change that power of attorney … because he was busy and had refused to come when we asked him to; because we felt the woman would have died. But once he saw the valuation document he suddenly found himself back here,” she said.
She was unable to shed any light on the woman’s possible whereabouts but said the last thing she knew was that the man was living somewhere in the interior.
“He’s the type of person that if something had gone wrong with her he would make contact,” she said.
Medor’s son had approached this newspaper last week during a visit to Guyana and said he had checked everywhere and could not find his mother nor could he contact the caretakers who he had not heard from earlier this year. He left Guyana yesterday.
Sylvester Medor also told Stabroek News that he had not seen his mother very often and initially for more than 40 years, but assisted her financially through her caretakers.
He said he had last heard from the caretakers in May this year.
He then came to Guyana last month to visit his mother but has not been able to find her. Prospere-Medor had last been staying at a house on Middle Road, La Penitence, Georgetown.
Her son told Stabroek News that he had been sending substantial sums to his mother’s caretakers who kept demanding more.
He said he really wanted to find his mother and hoped that one day his attorney would call with good news.
