Trinidad: Was granny starved to death? Judge stops funeral

(TRINIDAD EXPRESS) — Hours before it was scheduled to happen, a High Court judge ordered that the funeral and burial for an 88-year-old woman be stopped (Friday, Feb. 24) after one of her daughters took legal action.

The daughter said she first wanted an autopsy to be done on her mother’s remains to find out if the woman had been starved to death.

Justice Frank Seepersad granted the request for an injunction, and ordered that the autopsy on Toolin Bocas be done by Monday.

The unusual action was taken by Neffritte Bocas-Larkin, through attorney James Philbert.

In her claim, Bocas-Larkin said that before the death of her mother, another close relative had done all in her power to prevent friends, neighbours and family members from having access to her mother and the property at El Socorro Road, San Juan.

Bocas-Larkin, who is a registered nurse living in New York, claimed she invested US$10,000 in raising the market value of the family property between 2007 and 2012, and now she was being prevented from coming there.

The judge considered the claim that the property was supposed to be equally divided among the four children and their mother, upon the death of the family patriarch Ahmid Bocas.

However, it is alleged that one sibling was claiming the property and the right to ­arrange the funeral for the deceased, who allegedly has $US85,000 in a bank account, the legal action stated.

In support of the appeal for an injunction, Bocas-Larkin produced a High Court order dated October 2021, before her mother’s passing, in which Justice Joan Charles ordered that she be allowed to video and telephone call and speak to her mother from New York, and visit her at the house when she came to the island.

Justice John had also ordered that Bocas-Larkin be allowed to provide food, water and supplements to her mother, and not be harassed and verbally abused.

The court will convene to hear the matter on Monday morning.