Pardoned killer warded at hospital

PARDONED killer Boodram Bedassie, who was released from prison on Thursday, is now warded at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. He has been diagnosed as having an enlarged heart. Bedassie, 64, was released from the Port-of-Spain State Prison after serving 28 years for murder. He was taken straight to the home of relatives in Kelly Village, Caroni. He was pardoned by President George Maxwell Richards after the Mercy Committee, at a special meeting on Monday, took into consideration his failing health. Yesterday, just one day after his freedom, relatives took Bedassie to a private doctor to follow up on medical attention which he was getting in the prison.

Bedassie had been in and out of hospital for the past three months suffering from diabetes, a congested heart and tuberculosis. Bedassie was sent to the Mount Hope Medical Sciences Complex for x-rays to his chest. It turned out that he has an enlarged heart. It was then decided that he be sent to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for more treatment. The pardoned prisoner was reported to be very weak and unable to speak. During an interview with Newsday after his release on Thursday, Bedassie had to stop speaking on several occasions. He was coughing and was having difficulty breathing. Mark Seepersad, one of Bedassie’s attorneys confirmed late yesterday that his client was warded at hospital.

Seepersad said Bedassie had lost a lot of weight in the past three months and he was frail and unable to walk on his own. He was taken out of prison in a wheelchair and transported to Caroni in a prison ambulance. Bedassie said he spent 17 and a half years in Death Row, and a total of 30 years in the prison system. While on Death Row, the death warrant was read to Bedassie on June 7, 1988 for his execution two days later. But the High Court stayed his execution. Bedassie was sentenced to death on April 28, 1976 for the murder of Mohan Dindial. The murder took place on November 7, 1974. He lost his appeal seven months later, and his appeal to the Privy Council was thrown out on March 24, 1978.