Dressed like a bride for funeral

SHARLENE RAMPERSAD

WHILE she never got to enjoy a traditional Hindu wedding, Rachel Madoo’s body was dressed in a red and gold sari for her funeral yesterday, and her face was adorned like a bride.

Her mother Deomattie Madoo told Newsday yesterday, it was her wish to see Rachel dressed like a “dulahin” (Hindu bride).

“I never get to see none of my children married properly and I wanted her to wear a red sari for the last time I would be seeing her,” Madoo said.

Scores of residents and family members gathered for the last rites for the mother of one at the family’s Chaguanas home.

Rachel, 33, died on Thursday at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope after drinking a poisonous substance on Monday.

In a letter she wrote before she died, Rachel pleaded for help, saying she had been abused by a male relative for some 17 years.

She has a 13-year-old daughter from that relationship.

The child is staying with Madoo at her Enterprise home after the male relative dropped her off on Saturday.

There was no eulogy during the funeral, but yesterday afternoon Madoo spoke highly of Rachel.

“She was a loving child, always caring, always there for any family, always there for everybody.

“She was the best child I ever had. It hurt me so much to see I have to burn my child before me.”

She is calling for justice for Rachel as she says the relative must be held accountable for her suicide.

“Every day I am getting more and more information on the things he used to do to her. He is a sick man. Police need to arrest him. He can’t be living life nice and I have to burn my daughter’s body.”