The family of late painter Donald Mootoo, who died in a gruesome accident along the Montrose, East Coast Demerara in the early hours of New Year’s day, is at a loss as to how he met his death.
At the Lot 13 Bissoon Street, South Better Hope home that was shared by Mootoo, 59, called “Scanny,” and his wife, Sumintra Sahadeo, 63, she told Sunday Stabroek that the man’s death was an unexpected one.
She was in company of his nephew, who had flown in from New York yesterday morning to attend the deceased man’s funeral, which is slated for Monday.
Sahadeo explained that on New Year’s Eve, she accompanied her husband to the Mon Repos Market and afterward he told her that he was going to “pick up” something from one of his friends. She said that she assumed he was going to be busy helping the friend paint because she had overhead him mentioning this. She also said that she did not expect him to return home on New Year’s Day because she knew it was the friend’s birthday.
“I know it was the friend birthday, so I didn’t really call. [At] about 3, my neighbour through the street call and ask me “Where is Scanny?” I said “Scanny is not here.””
She explained that the neighbour had seen the video of the accident, which was posted on Face-book early that morning.
After being shown the video, she went to the Georgetown Hospital, not sure what to expect. At the hospital, she was told that the body of the unidentified man in the video was being held at the mortuary. It was there that she identified her dead husband’s body.
Mootoo reportedly died at around 1.50 am along the Montrose Public Road, where he had been proceeding west along the northern lane of the southern carriageway of the main road on a motorcycle. Police said the man lost control of the motorcycle as he was negotiating a right turn. As a result, Mootoo collided with median of the public road and his body was flung onto a light pole in the centre of the road and he sustained numerous injuries about his body.
Sahadeo could not give further information regarding the accident. She said that she was only told by the police that they were investigating what occurr-ed. Mootoo’s nephew also said that the reason for his uncle losing control of the bike was still a mystery to them, given that the man had been riding motorcycles for as long as he could remember.
Sahadeo also informed that during their 38 years of marriage, they never had any children but that they had a very happy relationship. A neighbour described the deceased man as a loving person who treated her as a sister, while his nephew said “He was not a person who would cause problem, he would always help.” The family choked up as they said that his death was very sad and they had no knowledge of it until hours later.
