Toronto cremation for Hema

HEMATTIE ROOPDIAL, the 25-year-old Trinida-dian woman who was found strangled in her apartment in Toronto, Canada, on Monday night, will be cremated in that country tomorrow. This was revealed yesterday by her uncle, UNC Member of Parliament for Chaguanas Manohar Ramsaran shortly before he left for Canada. Ramsaran told Newsday that a decision was taken by the family to have the funeral service in Brampton, Toronto, not too far from where Hemattie lived with her husband Dillraj “Tony” Roopdial and their two children. “Because of the state of the body, it was decided to have the funeral there. Hema’s parents (Ganesh and Seeta) are already in Toronto. I was able to get the last flight out this afternoon. Other members of the family are planning to go to Toronto for the funeral,” the UNC MP added. Ramsaran said Hema’s body will be cremated and her ashes brought back to Trinidad.

“The decision to conduct the service there is because of the state of the body. Remember, the body remained in the closet of the apartment since Friday and it was not until Monday night it was found. Also, there was no blood in the area where the body was found. The body was not in a good state to bring it home,” he said. Although he was heading to Toronto, Ramsaran said he was not sure whether he would be able to go near the scene of the murder. “The police have cordoned off the area, nobody is allowed there. I can’t say when the apartment will be available for the family, but we will be going ahead with the funeral.” Ramsaran missed yesterday’s sitting of the House of Representatives. Hemattie’s body was discovered by a relative on Monday night wrapped in a bag and placed in a closet in the bedroom of an apartment which she shared with her 32-year-old husband.

Hemattie’s gruesome death was big news in the daily newspapers in Canada yesterday. The Toronto Sun had a bold front page banner headline, “Mom’s body in Closet.” The Toronto Star carried the story “Body at home, in closet,” while the Globe and Mail’s headline read “Missing woman’s remains found at home.” The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) launched a countrywide search for Roopdial after the discovery of the couple’s car on Saturday morning. They have also asked the Trinidad and Tobago police to be on the lookout for Roopdial, who may try to enter Trinidad, his home country. He is originally from Chaguanas. Hemattie and her husband went missing last Friday after they left home to go to a travel agency in Mississauga to collect airline tickets for her sister, Seema Ramsaran and her two children, to travel to Trinidad yesterday to spend the summer holidays with her parents.

According to reports, Hemattie collected the airline tickets, and that was the last time she was seen alive.  Investigators believe that Hemattie was strangled and her body taken back to the house, placed in a bag and put in the closet of the couple’s bedroom. When Hemattie’s sister, Seema, did not see the couple on Friday night, she called the police. A search for the couple resulted in the recovery of their car at El Dorado Park, Brampton, west of Toronto. Police conducted searches of several areas over the weekend, but the couple was not found. Seema said she spent Friday night in the apartment with the two children not knowing that her sister’s body was in the closet all that time.

Relatives gathered at the apartment over the weekend and kept a prayer vigil. The discovery was made on Monday night when a relative went into the closet to get a sweater for the children’s grandmother. Investigators learnt that Hemattie obtained a restraining order against her husband two years ago, but the couple reconciled and were living together in the apartment with their children and Seema. They bought a new house in Brampton in which they were planning to move in June. Investigators were told that Hemattie complained that her marriage was not working, and had indicated to her husband that she was going to file for divorce.