Relatives of the man found dead in a reservoir earlier this week are upset at the way his body was treated after they discovered it was dumped in the non–functioning Le Repentir Mortuary, where it was partly devoured by animals.
The body of Mohammed Ahman Khan, 52, of Lot 23 Le Ressouvenir Railway Embankment, East Coast Demerara, was picked up on Tuesday by the Lyken Funeral home on the request of police.
But Khan’s relatives, who were refused access to see the body, say they were deceived into believing that it was fine all along.
They said had they been advised that the body was in such a bad state, they would have arranged for immediate burial-a fact disputed yesterday by police, who contend that the man’s relatives had raised reservations about paying for his burial.
The relatives stated too that they were led into believing that a post mortem examination would be conducted on the body.
Although Khan’s relatives were preparing for a funeral service yesterday, they were forced to inter the corpse at the La Bonne Intention cemetery shortly after they retrieved it from the mortuary.
The man’s cousin, Bibi Zalena Shakir, told Stabroek News that when relatives went to the Georgetown Public Hospital mortuary yesterday, they were advised that because of its advanced decomposition, Khan’s body was taken to the Le Repentir mortuary. They then made contact with the Central Islamic Organisation (CIOG), which assisted in removing the body from the cemetery. “He was in a bad state. All he hand eat out and is only two bone lef stick out and we had to wrap he with plastic and just throw cotton wool on he and put he in the box,” Shakir said, continuing, “We feel bad about this because if they bin tell we, we would find the money and bury him right away. We were confused because we never lose a family like this. We never had police dead.”
The woman said they had concerns were about the state of the body but following assurances that it was “ok” they did not worry. “We didn’t expect this because they tell we everything ok,” she explained.
However, when contacted for comment, ‘C’ Division Commander Balram Persaud told Stabroek News that from very early on, the man’s relatives had indicated that they were unable to stand burial expenses.
Explaining the procedures in such cases, he said that Lyken Funeral Home would usually keep the body, take it to the hospital for autopsy where police investigators bear witness along with a family member, and thereafter the body is handed over to relatives.
He added that in the event that the body is badly decomposed, the doctor would go to wherever it was and do the examination. In Khan’s case, a relative, Persaud said, went to the Sparendaam Station yesterday morning and then subsequently to the cemetery. He noted that a doctor who accompanied the relative advised that the cause of death could not be determined because of the state of decomposition.
Persaud added that the relatives seemed uninterested in what was happening and had knowledge that the body was in the cemetery and did not object. He accused them of being dishonest and wanting to put police in a bad light.
An official from the Lyken Funeral Home subsequently informed this newspaper that while the parlour goes out of its way to try to keep bodies when they are decomposed, it was a risk and could discomfort residents in its environs. In some instances, the bodies are kept under ice at the GPHC mortuary.
The official said in this case, the police were not really at fault since the relatives had indicated that they were financially unable to bury Khan and given their delay in coming forward to indicate their plans, the parlour decided to take the decomposing body to Le Repentir. “I think the police worked with what they got from the family from the inception. But sometimes misunderstanding comes,” the official said.
Khan’s remains were laid to rest just before noon yesterday.