A Freeport pensioner who was savagely beaten for her pension money at her home remains on life support machines in the Intensive Care Unit of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital fighting for her life.
Doctors have given Indra Gangabissoon, 76, a slim chance to survive as her condition has been deemed extremely critical.
Her 93-year-old husband Sugrim, who was also severely beaten by the robbers, sustained injuries to his head and chest. The brutal attack on Indra and Sugrim at their Calcutta home in Freeport on Thursday morning have left residents in the community shaken and fearful.
So severe were the beatings that medical reports reveal that Indra sustained a fractured skull and lost her sight. Blood from Indra’s brain had to be drained out.
Sugrim, a former Board of Inland Revenue officer, was discharged from the San Fernando General Hospital yesterday and is now nursing injuries to his head and chest at his home.
The blows have left the elderly man, who walks with a cane, disoriented and in a state of shock.
The attack on the elderly couple occurred on the day of their 59th wedding anniversary.
Indra and Sugrim had plans to celebrate their anniversary at home after returning from cashing their pension cheques and a visit to the doctor.
Police have since seized a telephone, found with blood stains on it, which may have been used to beat Indra and Sugrim who were discovered bleeding in the upstairs living room of their home by relatives. A sum of $3,000 was taken from Indra’s purse while a room in the house was ransacked. Relatives confirmed that this was the money from the pension cheque she had cashed on Thursday morning.
However, Sugrim’s $3,000 was found in his back pants pocket and police believe the attackers did not get a chance to search the elderly man.
Police said the robbers may have gained entry from the back of the family home.
Sugrim was very articulate as he spoke with Newsday yesterday, but could not recall the details of the attack.
“My head is hurting me, I am in a lot of pain. But I do not know what happened exactly,” Sugrim said. Unaware that his wife was also hospitalised, he repeatedly asked for Indra. He said Indra might be the one to say what happened to him as he could not remember.
As three of his six daughters surrounded him, they burst into tears.
“What kind of human being would do this to two elderly people. This is where the country has reached. I just can’t believe I have to see my parents in this state. They did not get in any accident, they were beaten. How do we tell our father that his wife, who is his entire life, may not make it alive. These are innocent people,” cried Sarojini Teelucksingh, 54.
Teelucksingh said she was speaking to her mother on the phone when she heard her bawl out.
“We were just talking casually on the phone as usual and she was telling me she took dad to the doctor and earlier they both went and collected their pension cheques, when, all of a sudden I heard my mother scream on the phone and shout out, ‘Oh God, no,’” Teelucksingh said.
“I kept calling out to her ‘mom, mom what’s wrong?’ but I got no answer and I could hear my dad speaking in the background. Then the phone went off,” a tearful Teelucksingh related.
Immediately Teelucksingh, who lives in Penal, began dialing the numbers of her sisters. It was shortly after that relatives, including one of Indra and Sugrim’s daughters Tara Mahase, 57, rushed to their home.
There was blood on the floor and Sugrim was found in a sitting position bleeding from his head while Indra’s two eyes were blue black in colour.
“When I saw my mother there was also blood running from her face and her eyes were closed down and swollen. She could not even open her eyes and she could not talk to us and tell us what happened, ” said Mahase in tears. Indra and Sugrim were rushed to the Couva Health Facility by Emergency Health Services (EHS) and later transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital.
“the ambulance, my mother kept making this groaning sound, you could see she was in a lot of pain and the blood kept running down her face,” Mahase said.
Due to Indra’s condition, she was later transferred to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for treatment by neurosurgeons.
Doctors advised her family that due to the extent of the brain damage she suffered from the beating Indra may not recover.
