Principal/SRP commits suicide

Forty eight hours after he was charged with drunken driving on the orders of Police Commissioner Trevor Paul, the principal of ASJA Boys’ College in Charlieville, Dr Nazam Shah, committed suicide by ingesting the deadly  gramoxone weedicide at his school on Sunday. Shortly after drinking the weedicide Shah called his wife Kumarie at their home and told her what he had done. He also told her to take care of their children. Shah was found frothing from the mouth by the vice principal, Karen Mohammed who called the Emergency Health Service. By the time EHS personnel arrived at the school, the principal had already ingested a large amount of the weedicide, and a discarded container was found at his side.

Dr Shah’s wife, Kumarie Shah, arrived at the school with her daughter Sabrina, 18, and son Riaz, 20, shortly after. Dr Shah was rushed to the Chaguanas Health Centre from where he was transferred to ward 31 of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he died around 8 am yesterday. An autopsy carried out at the hospital by Dr Barrow revealed that death was due to ingestion of gramoxone. The autopsy was witnessed by PC Kissoonlal of the Chaguanas CID. Shah was the former Public Relations Officer of ASJA, a YTEPP supervisor, and the Principal of ASJA Boys’ College in Charlieville. He was also a part-time Special Reserve Police Sergeant. The ASJA education board issued a release yesterday which stated that Shah died peacefully at hospital.

The release was signed by the new PRO of ASJA Kamal Hosein. Yesterday, at the family’s Trincity home, his wife told Newsday that her husband became very depressed after being charged  just before midnight on Friday. She said that on Saturday, he slumped into a severe state of depression and kept telling her to take care of the children. He also kept hinting to her that his end was near, but she refused to believe it. Kumarie, who is a Royal Bank employee told Newsday that on Saturday she kept trying to encourage her husband to return to his normally happy personality but failed.
As tears streamed down her face, she said that on Saturday night her husband appeared restless, and on Sunday morning he left the house without taking a shower. She said that she asked him where he was going but he told her that he was going to meet a friend. “I called him on his cell phone and begged him to come home, and he promised me that he would, but he never did,” she said.

Around 10 am on Sunday, Shah telephoned his wife from the ASJA Boys’ College and told her that he had ingested gramoxone and asked her to take care of the children. “I could not believe what I heard, when my husband phoned me, but when I arrived at the school, he was already frothing from the mouth,” she said. She described her husband as a hard worker, a determined person, a loving husband, dedicated father and a principal who loved his job. She believes that his depression heightened after he was charged on Friday. Police reports revealed that around 11.45 pm on Friday, CoP Paul was travelling north along the Orange Grove Road, Arouca, when he observed a van in front of him swaying from side to side.

He pulled aside and motioned to the driver of the vehicle to stop. Shah, 53, was taken to the Arouca Police Station where he was charged with drunken driving by Inspector Thomas. The matter was called before Tunapuna Magistrate Reynold Waldropt yesterday, but the court was told that Shah was not present  and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Hours later, officers of the Arouca Police Station were informed that Shah had died. Shah was the holder of a PhD from Sherwood University of England. He joined the Police Service as a Special Reserve officer and was recently promoted to the rank of Sergeant after 27 years in the service. In 2001 he was appointed principal of ASJA Boys’ College in Charlieville. Yacoob Ali, the president of ASJA was unavailable for comment yesterday.