— father forgives daughter for attempting to poison family
SEVENTEEN –YEAR-OLD Chaitram Dharamdat, also called Satesh, one of the five family members from a Mahaica household which was poisoned after eating a meal of hassar curry two weeks ago, was the last member to be discharged from the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) over the weekend. His father Sukdeo Dharamdat, 48, was discharged on Friday. They had been the worst affected by the poisoning, and had both been warded at the Male Medical Ward after being transferred from the Intensive Care Unit, where they spent just over one week.
The father and son, along with Sukdeo’s wife Nandranie 40, and two daughters – Hamwantie, 15, and Bhumwanteshar, 13, also called Shoma, all fell ill at their Bloom Garden home at Mahaica Creek after they had eaten the meal, which another family later claimed she had laced with a deadly pesticide. The 14-year-old who had made that claim did not partake of the meal; neither did an 18-year-old brother, who was at the time away from the home.
While visiting her family in hospital two Saturdays ago, the teen was arrested and subsequently charged with attempted murder, after police had carried out a thorough investigation. She appeared in the Mahaica Magistrate’s Court last Tuesday, and was remanded to the Juvenile Detention Centre. She will remain at the Sophia School for Juvenile Offenders until her next court appearance in April.
And even as her mother wept bitterly on learning that the teen had been charged with attempted murder, the day before he was discharged from hospital, her father, in apparently pensive mood, said he had forgiven her for the crime committed against his family.