Deadly wineBy CECILY ASSON Tuesday, November 3 2009
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RAMDEO JUGMOHAN...
A MAN and his nephew were among four men who dropped down dead during a lime on Sunday night after they ingested what police described as homemade wine which contained some type of poison.
The dead men have been identified as Winston Seelal, 56, who was unemployed; his nephew Nazim Mohammed, 42, a labourer, who both lived in Rampersad Trace, Rochard Road, Penal; Mahadeo “Lover Boy” Roopchan, 41, a welder/straightener of Debie Trace, Rochard Road and carpenter Ramdeo “Boya” Jugmohan, 49, of Ramsingh Trace, Rochard Road.
Seelal had invited his nephew and friends over to his home for a meal on Sunday. Relatives said the men often limed and drank together. The bodies of Seelal and Roopchan were found next to each other close to Seelal’s one-room shack while Mohammed was found in some bushes a short distance from his home.
Jugmohan who collapsed at the side of the road was taken to San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) but he was already dead. Investigators yesterday questioned a villager from whom the men purchased what police said was homemade wine.
A container with the wine has been seized by police and sent to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for tests to ascertain what type of poison was in the wine.
At about 10.45 pm on Sunday, police responded to a call about two bodies seen in Seelal’s yard. Paramedics were called in but the men were already dead. A relative later identified the bodies as being that of Seelal and Roopchan.
While police were on the scene, they heard a cellular phone ringing somewhere in the bushes. The officers later found Mohammed’s body in the bushes. It was his cellular phone which was ringing. Jugmohan was later found frothing from the mouth and unconscious at the side of the road. He was taken to hospital but was dead on arrival.
There were conflicting reports as to what the men drank before their death with police saying it was homemade wine but persons living in the area claiming that the men were drinking ‘babash’ (illegal homemade rum).
At Seelal’s home, his brother Reynold expressed shock over his relative’s death. “We still cannot believe he is dead,” Reynold said. Investigators were last evening still at the Forensic Science Centre awaiting the results of autopsies on the four men.
Up to press time, officers could not shed any light on what the autopsies revealed. Investigations are continuing.
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