Tearful farewell for Hema

WHILE the Canadian police continue to search for Dillraj “Tony” Roopdial, two of his brothers yesterday assisted in the funeral service for Roopdial’s wife Hemattie. She was found strangled in the bedroom closet of her apartment in Toronto, Canada, last week. Hemattie’s uncle, UNC Member of Parliament for Chaguanas, Manohar Ramsaran, told Newsday that Roopdial’s brothers and sisters, all of whom live in Canada, attended the funeral service. “In fact, two of his brothers actually helped with the ceremony. They came to pay their respects. They all liked my niece, they wanted to be part of the service,” Ramsaran added. Ramsaran said a three-hour service under Hindu rites was conducted at the Benisasia Funeral Home at Derry Road East in Mississauga.

“It started at 10 o’clock and went for three hours and then the cremation was held and this was not completed until three o’clock. There could have been about 500 persons at this funeral. It was considered big by Canadian standards,” the Opposition MP added. Ramsaran said apart from Hemattie’s parents Ganesh and Seeta, there were mourners who came from New York, Texas, and Trinidad. “It was a very emotional ceremony. Hema was such a nice person, I still can’t understand how this could have happened.” The UNC MP said Hemattie’s two children, Nicholas and Sara both attended the service. He said he had to hold up Nicholas, he being the son of the deceased, and who had to perform the final rites on his mother.

Ramsaran delivered the eulogy to a packed church hall. He told Newsday that he talked about domestic violence and said such things must not be kept in the closet. He felt that problems should be tackled. In Canada, he felt the support services must play a greater role. He said in Canada, when someone is locked away in an apartment, no one knows what is happening. Ramsaran pointed out that two small children were going to grow up without a mother...and most probably, without a father. Meanwhile, the Canadian police are continuing to search for Hemattie’s husband Dillraj, 32, who has not been seen since last Friday. They found a pair of shoes near Credit River leading them to suspect that the prime suspect in the woman’s death could be dead.

The shoes, identified as belonging to Dillraj, were found some distance from where the couple’s red Chevrolet Cavalier car was found last Saturday morning. High water and a fast current limited the ability of the Toronto Police to search the water of the lake. Newsday learnt that the search was called off at 4 pm on Thursday. Homicide Police are still working on the theory that Dillraj may have tried to leave the country. Hemattie was last seen alive last Friday when she and Dillraj went to a travel agency to collect airline tickets for her sister Seema and children to travel to Trinidad for the summer holidays. That was the last time Hemattie was seen. Her decomposed body was found in a bag in the closet of her bedroom on Monday night. A post-mortem performed on Wednesday confirmed that she was strangled.