Seven hours after being charged with the murder of his 41-year-old wife, Reena Dalchan, at Korea Village, Carapichaima, murder accused Pooran Dalchan was found frothing in the cells at the Freeport Police. He was rushed to the Chaguanas Health Centre where  he was pronounced dead on arrival by District Medical Officer, Dr Vishnu Geelal.

An autopsy carried out on the body yesterday revealed that death was due to heart failure. Reports revealed that Dalchan was released from ward seven of the San Fernando General Hospital around 9 pm on Monday. He was transported by a fire ambulance to the Freeport Police Station. According to reports Dalchan was charged with the murder of his wife around 11 pm by Sgt Keith Sylvester, and placed in the cell at the station. Around 6.15 am yesterday, PC Harriet made a check and discovered Dalchan frothing from the mouth. Fire officers were again contacted. They went to the Freeport Police Station where they took the prisoner to the Chaguanas Health Centre. He was attended to by Dr Geelal who pronounced him dead.

Senior officers told Newsday that as far as they are aware, Dalchan was deemed fit enough to be discharged from hospital to be charged. Following the death of Dalchan, Snr Supt Carmona and other senior officers of the Central Division carried out inquiries into the matter. At Dalchan’s home on Richard Lane, Enterprise Street, his son Andy, who turned 21 yesterday said it was the worst birthday he had ever experienced. The grieving man told Newsday that he was told the dreaded news early yesterday and was in a state of shock. He claimed that when he visited his father at hospital on Sunday, he was told  that doctors had given up hope that his father would ever have movement from his neck down. He said that his father expressed regret over killing his wife, and asked for forgiveness. “I forgave my father for killing my mother and I told him so, but to have my father snatched away from me so soon after the death of my mother, is too much to bear,” said the grieving man.

Andy explained that his father was finally able to receive the CT scan on Friday where it was discovered that the damage was extensive, and Dalchan who was paralysed from his neck down could not be assisted medically. Relatives were able to raise the $2,900 for the scan which was carried out at a private nursing home. The grieving Andy explained that he is now without a mother and father in such a short time and he was unsure how to deal with the loss. He added that his sisters Natasha and Asha were also in a state of shock over the death. He is convinced that his father would have wanted to be reunited with his mother in death.

On June 18, police officers received instructions to charge Dalchan with the murder of his wife, Reena. However, they were advised to hold their hand in the matter until the accused was well enough to face the murder charge. On the morning of June 16, Dalchan went to the Smith Street, Carapichaima home where his wife Reena was staying, and stabbed her repeatedly. He then jumped from the top floor of the house, landing ten feet below, onto the concrete ground. Relatives claimed that Reena left her marital home after 24 years of physical and verbal abuse. She had lodged several reports at the Chaguanas Police Station.

Two men posing as Christian pastors went to the Mausica home of businessman Jai Ramkissoon on Monday night, prayed for five minutes and gave his wife Sumintra a capsule to assist her to sleep. They then left in a Mazda vehicle.

Yesterday, an emotional Ramkissoon told Newsday that he is now convinced that the two imposters were kidnappers working with others, who came to his home to find out if police officers were present there, and to poison his wife. The tablet was handed over to the police and sent for tests to determine if it contained any poisonous substances.

Sumintra, 63, was in company with her son Syam on Friday at Sasa Farms San Rafael when three men snatched her son, stole a $50,000 payroll and then bundled her son in a car. Up until yesterday Syam remained in the hands of kidnappers. Ramkissoon told Newsday that around 12.45 am yesterday, he received a call from a kidnapper demanding that the ransom be paid by midday yesterday. Ramkissoon said that the kidnapper cursed him and told him that if the money is not paid, he will never see his son again. The chicken magnate said that he haggled with the kidnapper informing him that he was flat broke, and was in the process of raising funds. He even informed the kidnapper that he was in no position to pay the $2 million ransom and pleaded with the kidnapper to reduce the amount.

At midday yesterday, Ramkissoon said that he was given a few extra hours to come up with the money, and said that the kidnapper promised to call again at 5 pm. The father of two said that he has been pooling together available funds to pay the ransom and has insisted to the kidnapper that he will be the one delivering the money. Ramkissoon said that two AKS officers have been posted at his house permanently.

In recalling the incident with the two imposters, Ramkissoon claimed that around 12.30 pm, he was speaking with a police officer when two men, one with an afro and one of East Indian descent, approached him and said they had come to pray for Syam. Ramkissoon said he asked a relative to show the two men to the house. His daughter Sharon informed him after the men had left, that the voice bore a striking resemblance to the kidnapper on the phone, and the men appeared to be looking around instead of offering prayers. They did not produce a Bible and later told Sumintra that their spirit revealed to them that she was not sleeping properly. They then gave her a capsule. One of the men told her to take the capsule and she would be asleep in 15 minutes’ time. The men then left the house. “When my daughter revealed her suspicions to me, I realised that her suspicions were correct since the voice of the imposter pastor was the same voice which called me on my cell phone demanding the ransom,” said Ramkissoon.

Newsday learned that Valia, Syam’s wife, has been distraught ever since Syam was kidnapped. Yesterday, she pleaded with kidnappers to release her husband of three months. Inside the compound, Sumintra, Valia and Sharon, Ramkissoon’s daughter, were praying for Syam’s safe return. AKS officers told Newsday that they do not have any leads in the kidnapping, but explained that they received information that the kidnappers will settle for $500,000. Ramkissoon admitted that he is now more alert and careful about who is allowed into his house.

The Lindquist Report has exonerated everybody, except Opposition MP Ganga Singh whose charges led to the investigation.

The Government, WASA and all the personalities involved have been cleared by the Bob Lindquist report which was tabled in the Senate yesterday. The Report which investigated a $51 million ‘out of court’ settlement between WASA and Water Farms Limited found “no basis for the allegations of impropriety” made in the Parliament by UNC’s Ganga Singh. Attorney General Glenda Morean said the Report showed that Singh’s allegations were irresponsible. Public Utilities Minister said he was grateful and  happy. But Singh’s colleague, Senator Wade Mark dismissed the Report as a “cover-up”, saying that Linquist “was singing for his supper”.

The Report refuted Singh’s allegations made in Parliament on May 21 that money was deposited into the accounts of PNM functionaries. The Report said “we” determined that all funds paid by WASA to Water Farms Trinidad Limited (WFTL) have been deposited to, or invested in time deposit certificates in the name of Water Farms Trinidad Limited”. It added that apart from the payment of $16 million to the four shareholders in equal amounts and a few small disbursements, the remaining sum of $32 million continues to be in the name of ‘Water Farms Trinidad Limited’ at two financial institutions. Opposition suspicion about the Water Farms issue first began when it was disclosed in Parliament earlier this year that while Ernest and Young had recommended to WASA that it pay Water Farm $11 million for the premature termination of a contract, WASA settled out of court with Water Farms for $51 million. But the Report stated that WASA engaged E&Y in May 2000 to compute amounts owed to WFTL under the belief that the contracts which were terminated were not enforceable in the courts.

 However, the Report noted, that “outside legal counsel” for WASA in July 2002 opined that the contracts between WASA and WFTL would be enforceable in the courts, “consequently, the Ernst and Young report became non applicable as to the settlement amount due from WASA to WFTL”. WASA’s legal counsel in this matter included Montano and Co. which received the lion share of legal fees- $350,000. The other law firms involved were Pollanais, Blanc, De La Bastide and Jacelon which received $30,000 and Reginald Armour who received $50,000. The Report said that the E&Y Report also did not address the amounts owing for the operation of the wells, and focussed only on expenditures that WFTL incurred for the rehabilitation of the wells and the drilling of new wells. “Consequently, in reference to the E&Y report for the amounts which WASA owed as damages to WFTL is not applicable,” it stated.

However one interesting fact in the Report was that Citigate’s assessment of settlement calculation and damage calculation  differed widely from that arrived at by WASA. Citigate total assessement of damages was $47 million while WASA’s figure was $54 million, a substantial difference of $7 million.  The main area of difference was in the calculations for the amount for loss of opportunity for remainder of contract which Citigate estimated at a conservative figure of TT $8.8 million while WASA generously placed it at $36 million.  Citigate stated that the settlement computation prepared by WASA did not consider the costs and expenses which WTFL would have incurred during the period attributable to the loss of opportunity.  In short, WASA calculated on the basis of gross revenue rather than on revenue minus expenses. Citigate noted for example that WFTL had to provide at its sole expense all services, personnel, tools, equipment, materials and designated machinery and engineering facilities for execution of the works under the contract. It also had to pay the costs associated with the delivery to the delivery point of water produced. There were many other expenses it would have had to incur under the arrangement. These expenses appeared not to have been factored into WASA estimation. Nevertheless Citigate found the settlement amount of $51 million was “reasonable”.

The Report which was prepared by Citigate Investigative and Forensic Accounting stated: “We are satisfied with the integrity of the process of negotiation engaged in by WASA and its legal representatives that led to the ‘Out of Court’ settlement with WFTL”. The Report noted that all the persons involved — Dr Joe Laquis, Mark Laquis and Rawlinson Agard — denied Singh’s allegations. It said Stephanie Daly of Pollanais and Blanc stated that Mark Laquis had nothing to do with the WASA settlement matter and that there was no trust account at Pollonais and Blanc, De La Bastide and Jacelon for the settlement proceeds. She also stated that the firm had no involvement in the determination of the amount of the settlement and had no knowlege of what Water Farms did with the settlement proceeds. Gordon Gatt, Account Manager for Executive Banking at Scotiabank advised that Mark Laquis had no trustee bank account and that there had been no unusual transaction activity in his bank accounts. Trevor Clarence, Operations Manager at Republic Bank stated the same thing about Laquis — that he had no trustee bank account and no unusual transaction activity.

Singh’s allegations were that a member of the PNM’s General Council who was also on WASA’s Board teamed up with a former Member of Parliament and approached the contractor at Water Farms for a contribution. Singh said the agreement was that the contractor would get $22 million and everything above that figure would be given to the two men. Singh said that the two men conspired with a partner in a law firm, and that the attorney was the trustee of the loot. He had claimed that $17 million had been paid into a particular bank in Port-of-Spain.

While Attorney General Glenda Morean said there was “no further stage” for the Bob Lindquist Report, former MP Dr Joe Laquis yesterday called on his party to use the Privileges Committee of Parliament to have UNC MP Ganga Singh expelled for misleading the Parliament. And UNC MP Wade Mark is calling for “somebody needs to investigate Mr Lindquist”.

Mark said from the word go the process was “contaminated and polluted”. He said the Attorney General should not have taken the matter “unto her shoulder”. Conceding that it was the UNC which called for Bob Lindquist to investigate the matter, Mark stated: “When you employ an investigator like Bob Lindquist who is a hired hand of the State, he is being paid by the State, how can this man?.. He doesn’t make the report available to the DPP and the Police, he makes it available to the Attorney General,” he said. “We are saying that Mr Lindquist is singing for his supper and that is why he could say no (evidence of wrongdoing)” said Mark. The UNC MP said if the matter was sent to the DPP , the Police would have gone and interviewed Kansham Kanhai the former CEO and “ all the engineers who were dismissed because of their racial composition and complexion..This report is a waterdown report..They have not interviewed key players”.

Laquis stated that he knew from the word ‘go’ that an untruth could not become true. He said it was a sad day that a member of Parliament should mislead the House and the entire country. “I call on him to do the honourable thing and resign,” he said. Laquis added that if Singh did not resign, there was “no recourse” but for the PNM to make an “automatic request” for him to be referred to the Privileges Committee and for him to be ultimately expelled. Public Utilities Minister said he was “grateful” that it was demonstrated that the actions of the people charged with the responsibility for managing WASA were clean.  “I feel happy about that,” he said, adding that the Government had nothing to hide. He said he was not surprised by the findings. Morean said nothing was raised in the report that have given the Government any cause for concern. She said Govern-ment was not prepared to tolerate corruption from any one of its members or anyone else.  On the cost of the investigation, she said she hadn’t got Linquist’s bill yet.

SINGAPORE:  Iranian twins Laleh and Ladan Bijani, joined at the head for 29 years, died within 90 minutes of each other yesterday after doctors separated them but were unable to control their bleeding in the unprecedented surgery.

In their homeland, people cried out in shock or wept as state television broke into normal programming to announce their deaths during the third day of surgery in Singapore. “Is my beloved Ladan really not with us anymore?” Zari Bijani, an elder sister of the twins, said after Ladan’s death was reported. Seconds later, she fainted. Hospital officials said Ladan died 90 minutes ahead of her sister Laleh, both deaths because of blood loss. They died while still under anesthesia. “Everyone upstairs is crying,” said the nurse, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We treated them like family because they had been here for seven months.” It was the first time surgeons tried to separate adult craniopagus twins — siblings born joined at the head. The surgery has been performed successfully since 1952 on infants, whose brains can more easily recover.

The twins had gone into the surgery saying they knew the risks but wanted to achieve their dream of living independent lives — Laden wanted to continue as a lawyer, Laleh wanted to switch to become a journalist. Speaking in English to journalists last month, their joined heads wrapped in a single scarf, the smiling and laughing sisters said they wanted for the first time to look at each other face-to-face. “We have different ideas about our lives,” Laleh said. “Actually, we are opposites,” Ladan interrupted, laughing. “If God wants us to live the rest of our lives as two separate, independent individuals, we will,” Ladan said before the final tests Saturday ahead of the surgery. The risky, marathon separation procedure began about 10 pm on Saturday. Before the operation, doctors warned that the surgery could kill one or both of the twins, or leave them brain-dead. “When we undertook this challenge, we knew the risks were great. But we were hopeful. Ladan and Laleh knew the risks too,” said Dr Loo Choon Yong, chairman of Raffles Hospital. “As doctors there is only so much we can do as the rest we have to leave it to the Almighty.”

From the start, doctors ran into unexpected obstacles not found in the infants that the operation has until now been performed on. It took longer to cut through portions of the sisters’ skulls because their older bones were denser than previously believed. And though the Ladan and Laleh’s brains were separate, they had adhered to each other after years of growing and sharing the same space. That forced doctors to meticulously cut the organs apart, “millimetre by millimetre,” Raffles hospital spokesman Dr Prem Kumar said. “As the separation was coming to a close, a lot of blood was lost. The twins were subsequently in a critical state,” said Kumar. Working in two groups, surgeons gave each twin blood transfusions, but in the end they were unable to cope with the unusual blood flow patterns, he said. “I was concentrating very hard on Laleh at the time,” lead neurosurgeon Dr Keith Goh said, recounting the moment when he knew the operation had gone wrong. “I was very saddened when I looked over and saw them struggling, of course at the same time, we were struggling too.”

A crucial part of the surgery had been to deal with a finger-thick vein shared by the sisters that drained blood from the brain. In 1996, German doctors had told the twins that shared vein made surgery too dangerous. During the operation, the surgeons grafted a similar sized vein from Ladan’s right thigh to her brain, then rerouted the shared vein to her sister. But Ladan’s new vein became congested, and surgeons on Monday night considered whether to call off the rest of the operation and leave the twins joined or “continue with final stage of the surgery, which we knew would be very, very risky,” Loo said. “The team wanted to know once again what were the wishes of Ladan and Laleh,” Loo said. “We were told that Ladan and Laleh’s wishes were to be separated under all circumstances.”

For more than 50 hours, the team of 28 doctors and about 100 medical assistants worked in tight spaces in front of and behind the twins, who were in a sitting position in a custom-built brace connected to IVs and monitors. In the final hours, the surgeons had to contend with unstable pressure levels inside the twins’ brains just before they worked to uncouple the sisters’ brains and cut through the last bit of skull joining them, Kumar said. “I am very sad, as all of us are,” Goh said. “Over the last six months, everyone who came in contact with them was touched by their personalities and the kind of people they were.” The courage of the twins won them a place in the hearts of Iranians. Television devoted many programmes to the twins. Newspapers published page after page about their life and the protracted operation.

Parents of the twins, Dadollah Bijani and Maryam Safari, thanked the Iranian nation for praying for their children, the state-run Tehran radio reported. The sisters were born into a poor family of 11 children in Firouzabad, southern Iran, but grew up in Tehran under doctors’ care. The Iranian government said on Monday it would pay the nearly $300,000 cost of the operation and care for the twins. Participating neurosurgeon Dr Benjamin Carson, director of paediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre in Baltimore, has separated three sets of craniopagus twins.

KHARTOUM: A two-year-old boy was the sole survivor after a Sudan Airways plane crashed on a domestic flight in Africa’s largest country yesterday, killing 115 people.

Mohammed al-Fatih lost a leg in the crash and his mother was among those killed, a spokesman for the airline said. The toddler was flown to the capital, Khartoum, for treatment. The pilot of the Boeing 737 reported a technical failure a few minutes after taking off at about 4 am local time from the Red Sea town of Port Sudan in the northeast, heading towards the capital, state radio said. The plane crashed a few kilometres away from Port Sudan airport as it returned in an attempt to land. The bodies of the dead were swiftly buried, in keeping with Muslim tradition, although officials said they were still struggling to identify all the victims.

Ihab al-Amin, a correspondent of al-Khartoum daily who visited the scene, said some bodies were thrown some distance from the crash site and many were badly burnt. It was not clear how identification would proceed after the burials. Residents of Port Sudan, fearing for their loved ones, rushed to the airport waiting for news or to console victims’ families. In Khartoum, people made frantic checks to see if family or friends were on board. A Sudan Airways employee told Reuters 104 passengers and 11 crew were killed, most of them Sudanese. A passenger list said 17 children were on the flight. Sudan Airways external relations manager Jalal al-Ajab said an airline list showed eight foreigners were on board — three Indians, a Briton, a Chinese, an Ethiopian and a United Arab Emirates’ citizen. One person’s nationality was not known.

WHEN the mother of  murdered businessman Pradeep “Chris” Seecharan, 33, heard that her son was found (after he was missing for a night) she breathed a sigh of  relief. But relief soon turned to shock and anguish when she was further told that he was found dead.

Speaking to Newsday yesterday, the deceased man’s brother Mahase, 37, said their mother Chanardai Seecharan, 67, had to be given the heart-wrenching news while being comforted by anxious relatives. Seecharan’s body was found at Perseverance Road, Maraval around 6 am on Monday. Investigators believe he was hijacked and beaten to death. An autopsy done on the body yesterday at the Forensic Sciences Centre revealed that Seecharan died of multiple blunt trauma wounds to the head. When Newsday visited the house of mourning yesterday, Seecharan’s mother and other relatives were out making funeral arrangements.

Seecharan (Mahase) said that around 9 pm on Sunday night, his brother returned to their Calcutta Number One, Mc Bean Village, Couva home after attending a wedding. Seecharan left home shortly afterwards in his Toyota Hilux van. Later that night, when Seecharan did not  return home, his brother and other relatives grew worried since it was unlike him to stay out that late. His mother, anxious to know of her son’s whereabouts, called the homes of other relatives early Monday morning. She, along with relatives, then made reports to the Freeport police station. The brother said, “When they found the vehicle, we knew something was wrong.” It was around midday on Monday when they received news that his van was found at the King’s Wharf, San Fernando.

The dead man’s relatives described him as a caring and loving person. He was not married, had no children and was the eighth of ten children. Seecharan described his dead brother as a “jolly person”. Grieving relatives said they knew no reason why someone would want to kill Seecharan. They also claimed that he had no argument or falling out with anyone in recent times. They said  that Seecharan did a lot of travelling to destinations like USA and Curacao to  obtain clothes for his store at Adam’s Bazaar, Chaguanas. Seecharan’s  funeral takes place at 11 am today at the house of mourning. He will then be cremated at the Waterloo Cremation site. Maraval police are continuing investigations.

A deaf mute murder accused and a Court-appointed interpreter got their signs all mixed up yesterday. As a result, a guilty plea which was recorded, as coming from the accused, had to be rescinded because of a misunderstanding in communication.

The misinterpretation had to do with deaf mute Bharath Mansingh, who is before Justice Melville Baird in the Port-of-Spain First Criminal Court, charged with the murder of his 24-year-old brother Mukesh Mansingh on November 27, 1999 at their home on St John’s Road, St Augustine. When the matter was called yesterday, and the Court arraigned Bharath, asking him whether he was guilty or not, the Court-appointed interpreter Anna Chee Ying apparently misread his response, and said he had pleaded guilty.  However, Bharath’s attorney Ulric Skerritt said it could not be so, and after consulting with the defence interpreter Paulson Skerret, it was discovered that Bharath had not understood Chee Ying’s sign language.

Attorney Skerritt  went on to explain to the Court that the sign language Chee Ying was using was “perfect” English sign language, a technique of spelling out the words, which was not familiar to Bharath. The accused he said, uses a combination of the local and the American Sign Language techniques to communicate. Paulson, who was recommended to the defence team by the Trinidad and Tobago Association for the Hearing Impaired (TTAHI), understands both local and English sign languages.

In light of the misunderstanding, Justice Baird revoked the guilty plea. It was also agreed that the Court would have to revoke the appointment of Chee Ying, who has taught English sign language at NIHERST and DRETCHI, and find another interpreter who understands the accused’s technique of sign language.  For the moment, the Court considered using Paulson, but then noted that he was already working with the defence. Bharath is being represented by attorneys Israel Khan SC, Dana Seetahal and Ulric Skerritt, instructed by Nadia Astraph, while Althea Alexis is prosecuting. Hearing was adjourned to today, by which time the Court is expected to find a suitable interpreter from the TTAHI.

Two men charged with murder were freed yesterday because a retired police corporal refused to return to Trinidad and testify against them at their re-trial.

The jurors in the Port-of-Spain Fifth Criminal Court were ordered by Justice Pamela Elder to return a verdict of not guilty in favour of  accused  Kizza Sealey and Marvin Headley. Both men were charged with the January 25, 1999 murder of Don Christopher Prescott, a bodyguard of businessman James Chen. State prosecutor Alexander Prince explained to the Court yesterday that Cpl Roland Holder, the prosecution’s key witness in the trial, was not willing to return to Trinidad from the USA to testify. Prince told Justice Elder that the DPP’s department was in contact with Interpol in the USA to visit Holder at his overseas residence with a view of having him return to testify, but his relatives indicated that Holder was not interested in doing so.

Prince further explained to the judge that under the law he could use Holder’s deposition and tender it into evidence. But because of an undertaking which was given by the State to the Court of Appeal that Holder will be present at the re-trial, he would not be using the deposition. In light of that, Prince said, the State would not be offering any evidence against the two accused. Attorney Joan Charles, who represents Headley, together with Ryan Cameron, commended DPP Geoffrey Henderson and Prince for the stance taken. Sealey was represented by attorneys Keith Scotland and Dawn Mohan.

In an earlier trial, Sealey and Headley were found guilty and sentenced to death, but the Privy Council remitted the case to the Court of Appeal,  saying that defence attorneys at that trial had not led evidence of  the men’s good character. The Privy Council’s judgment also stated: “Their Lordships recognise that the case against the two appellants was a very strong one and that, from a reading of the transcript, the alibi evidence appeared unimpressive.” The two men were accused of attacking Chen on Independence Square, Port-of-Spain, and trying to take away a bag containing money while on his way to deposit in the bank on the morning of January 25, 1999. Prescott, who was his bodyguard, was allegedly stabbed by the two men and died sometime later. Holder, in his testimony at the preliminary inquiry and first trial, claimed to have witnessed the murder and that he had known the assailants since they were little boys.