Missing corpse found buried in wrong grave by wrong family

Relatives of Ramjattan mourn over the grave in which he is incorrectly buried. 

The body of Wazim Ray Ramjattan was exhumed from a cemetery at Vergenoegen, West Coast Demerara on Thursday morning.

The exhumation was done by Government Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh. Speaking to BIG Smith News Watch at the ground, Dr Singh confirmed that Ramjattan’s remains were found in the grave.

The body of the 35 year old man was buried by another family in a another part of the country from where he was expected to be buried. Ramjattan’s body was identified by a relative who recognised familiar tattoos on the corpse.

Wazim Ray Ramjattan died at the Georgetown Public Hospital and his remains which should have been sent to the Memorial Gardens Funeral Home, ended up at a funeral home located on the West Coast Demerara.

Ramjattan who was of the Islamic faith was denied a timely burial as his family waited for weeks to have the body released and then finding out that there was another body in place of his.

This development left many persons in the community of Vergenoegen astonished as they said it is the first time they have come across such an incident at that cemetery which is located just up the road from the residential area.

On Tuesday, 16 days after he died, the relatives of Ramjattan after they could not locate his corpse reached out to this publication to have their story told.

The family said that the body went missing between the Georgetown Public Hospital and Memorial Gardens Funeral home which is located in Le Repentir.

Manisha Ramjattan recalled her brother being rushed to the Emergency Unit of the GPHC on the 29th March. She told this publication that he was pronounced dead by a man she identified by name.

Manisha said that the family could not see much of her brother’s body since hospital staff said that due to the pandemic, access to the Emergency Room was limited.

She said that they were eventually told that the body would be transferred to the Memorial Gardens, a funeral parlour. While there the family recalled the porter with the name “Wazir Ramottan” on the tag.

The  family had pointed out that the name was incorrect. She said the family was assured that the name was changed to that of her brother’s but still the family was unable to see Wazim’s body.

It was on Saturday when the family was preparing to bury the man, that they were presented with the body of another man.

The family immediately confronted the other family who had initially denied that the body at the parlour was theirs. This led to the exhumation. The family will now lay Ramjattan to rest.