ANIKA GUMBS Saturday, September 30 2006

A-52-YEAR-OLD painter died in a freak accident yesterday in what police believed was linked to the after-tremors of yesterday’s earthquake.

Pat Anthony Sooklal, of Parforce Street, Gasparillo, met his death at about 3.15 pm, when he fell off a wooden ladder while painting the downstairs kitchen of a five-bedroom house.

No one was inside the house at the time of the incident, except Sooklal.

At the time, Sooklal, who was hired to paint the house, was standing on top of a five-foot wooden ladder leaned against a kitchen cupboard.

Police officers visiting the scene yesterday told Newsday that they suspected Sooklal fell off the ladder when the aftershocks of the earthquake occurred during the afternoon. He fell to the ground and according to a police report, he broke his neck.

Neighbours who had gathered at the house yesterday to support his grieving relatives, expressed shock over the incident. Sooklal’s uncle, Isaac, told Newsday that it was only when his nephew (Anil) visited the house he realised what had happened. “Anil met him on the ground below the ladder and he raised an alarm. No one was aware what had happened until the house owner came. This is a very unfortunate situation,” he added.

Sooklal’s brother, Ashford, 54, said he learnt about his brother’s death through another brother who is a police officer. “Our elder brother, Lester Sooklal, who is attached to the Couva Police Station, received a telephone call informing him of what had happened. He immediately telephoned me and I arrived here. I am in total shock,” declared Isaac.