… one  daughter  detained hours before funeral
. . . MP criticises officers’ inhumane action
THE Guyana Consulate in Trinidad is actively looking after the interest of the children of the Guyanese murder-suicide couple, Arjoon Balkaran and Sohanie Ramsundar, who were cremated yesterday at the Waterloo cremation site. Consulate official, Ms Denise Dino, with whom the Chronicle spoke yesterday, said she will personally accompany the children- daughters, Anita, 20; Babita, 21; Usha ,18, and son Monoswar  called Rocky, 15, – to the Immigration Department, with a view to having them obtain legal status.
She said too, the Guyana Consulate will also seek to offer other forms of assistance, including  counselling, as the children  cope with such tragic circumstances.
The four Balkaran children, like their dead mother, have been on the island illegally at a residence on Teelucksingh Street, Dow Village, California, having overstayed their stay.
The mother was killed by her husband, a former Petrotrin contractor,  who had migrated from Guyana  12 years ago.
According to news reports on the island, Balkaran slit the woman’s throat following an argument on Thursday,  then climbed a mango tree and wrapped a nylon cord around his neck, before jumping off.
Dino, yesterday, also confirmed news reports carried in all of the island’s dailies which stated that hours after the children said their final goodbyes to their parents, one of the daughters, Anita, was detained by Chaguanas Police for some two hours Tuesday night because she had no official documents to live in the country.
The young woman had reportedly gone there to obtain approval to facilitate the cremation of her parents.
According to a Trinidad Guardian report, the detention sparked the fury of Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh, who spoke of Anita’s ordeal at the couple’s funeral service yesterday.
The Trinidad MP is said to have criticised the police officers for their inhumane approach at such a time, as instead of helping the young woman, they questioned her about her immigration status.
She was only released at the intervention of a senior police officer who was contacted by the Member of Parliament for assistance.
The MP said the officers proceeded to detain the young woman even though she had told them that she was married to a Trinidad citizen; but the officers proceeded to detain her for two hours.
The report further stated that Balkaran’s brother, Navindra, who travelled on Tuesday from Guyana, along with the mother, Bernice Dwarika, and sister, Indrawattie Chandrepaul, for the funeral, was detained for two hours by immigration officials at the airport.
Dow Village is one of the areas declared a crime hot spot by Trinidad Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Tuesday, and subject to the 11 p.m to 4 a.m curfew, in an attempt to arrest the spiraling crime situation there.
In response to a query, Dino yesterday said the Guyana Consulate has been working closely with the Trinidad authorities in rendering assistance to Guyanese nationals who have been detained during the curfew crackdown, once they do not have any pending police matters.
The assistance includes helping them to obtain travel documents and flights out of the island, she added.