Relatives of Omattie Gattoo are hoping she will be well enough to attend the funeral service of her three-year-old son, Ravendra, which has been set for tomorrow. In an interview, Rocky Gattoo, Omattie’s husband, said the Ministry of People and Social Development had offered to pay for the child’s funeral. “Hopefully, she (Omattie) would come out the hospital for the funeral,” he said.
Ravendra was killed on Monday when a ten-wheeler truck slammed into the four-door pickup driven by the child’s uncle, Kumar Balraj. Omattie was holding Ravendra when the truck struck them. Her six-year-old daughter, Stacy, and her parents were also in the van. The family was on its way to drop off Omattie at her Bejucal Road, Cunupia, home, after she and her children had spent the weekend in Barrackpore.
Gattoo said Stacy was staying with her grandparents while her mother remained hospitalised, but the families would be reunited for the funeral in Bejucal. “The funeral will take place in Bejucal and everybody will come up here.” The body is expected to be cremated at the Caroni Cremation Site. Asauph Ghany confirmed that he and other officials from his ministry would visit the family today.
“Yes, we will be going there. There will also be a senior social worker who is a counsellor going with us, to offer whatever support we can to the family.” Meanwhile, Gattoo was discharged from the San Fernando General Hospital yesterday. “She have real pain in she back, head and hand,” said her brother Ramoutar Balraj in a telephone interview.
Gattoo was discharged from the hospital around 11.30 am. Balraj said the funeral service for Ravendra will take place tomorrow at their Bejucal, Cunupia home and then Caroni Cremation site.