SHERON’S MISDEED

AZARD ALI

WHILE his friends and enemies alike have been pouring out their hearts since his murder in Chaguanas on Monday, a family in the nearby village of Freeport is praying that whoever inherits Sheron Sukhdeo’s multi-million dollar estate, would not seize their $1.5 million property.

In 2015, Mankad Mathura, 59, had no money to buy life-saving drugs to treat his cancer and he went to Sukhdeo for a loan of $45,000.

On November 23, 2015, Mathura was made to sign an agreement by Sukhdeo’s attorney, which required him to repay the loan in 30 days or give up his two lots of land valued $1.5 million. He died three days later.

Since then, his three daughters have been making attempts in the San Fernando High Court to stop Sukhdeo from seizing the land.

A clause in Sukhdeo’s agreement with Mathura states that if he died, whoever in Mathura’s family is in line to inherit the land, is bound to give up possession.

Another states any money or taxes owed to the government must be borne by Mathura’s inheritors and not Sukhdeo.

Within days of his death, Sukhdeo went onto the land and attempted to take possession.

After Mathura’s family buried him, they went to attorney Subhas Panday who filed a lawsuit, on behalf of Mathura’s daughters Nisha Mathura-Ragbir, Stephanie Mathura-Fredericks and Shelline Dwarika, against Sukhdeo’s move to take possession.

The daughters said they acknowledged the agreement between their father and Sukhdeo, but stated that their Mathura died on December 26 before he could repay the sum.

They said their father was suffering for a number of years and when he made the agreement with Sukhdeo in the attorney’s office, his condition had worsened. “He therefore had insufficient and/or did not have the requisite mental capacity to make the agreement,” they contend.

They are also claiming that Mathura did not have independent legal advice when he made the agreement. They want a judge of the High Court to declare the agreement null and void and of no effect.

The case is scheduled for hearing early next month. When asked about the status of the matter yesterday, having regard to Sukhdeo’s murder on Monday, Panday said, “I cannot discuss my clients’ business publicly without their permission, but the matter is being pursued in court.”