Reverend: Man's heart desperately wicked

SPEAKING at the funeral for murdered Republic Bank workers, Neisha Cyleane Sankar, 29 Reverend Angela Gidarree said that Jeremiah (a character from the Bible) may have looked through a time capsule when he wrote many centuries ago that the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked.

“The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.”

The heart, she said, is the core of our being where our emotions and desires dwell.

“The heart is sometimes evil and deceitful and man have become too self-centred, serving their own selves than looking at the welfare of others,” she said.

She told mourners that people were TT's greatest assets they were also its greatest liabilities. The hearts of man, she said, may not only need to change but be transformed.

Hundreds of people gathered at the Siparia Pentecostal Church, Grell Street, Siparia yesterday evening to bid farewell to Sankar.

Gidarree said that people frequently asked what had gone wrong with TT society and what could be done to correct it. She said there was news of school violence, drug-busts, rape, robberies, and murders almost every day.

“Perilous times are upon us and we are in our last days."

People today have taken Christ out of their lives and this, she said, is where the problem lies.

Branch Manager of Republic Bank Siparia, Mukesh Harikissoon attended the funeral and spoke about Sankar. He said Sankar won the hearts of many, both customers and staff.

“She impresses us with as a great charismatic leader, confident and committed to her task and undertakings,” he said.

Sankar’s passing, he said came as a shock, and it feels unreal, and one memory that will stand out is the way she loved her family and the intense affection for her only son Michael.

Sankar’s eight-year-old son sat quietly with his grandparents looking at the closed coffin carrying the body of his mother. He kept his head down during the service.

On Thursday, he attended the funeral of his father, Harricharan Ramsundar, 45, outside his home in Phulo Drive, La Brea Street, Siparia. The boy's step-sister stood outside the packed Pentecostal Church to see her brother.

Debra Pierre gave the eulogy saying Sankar was a very determined individual and she cared deeply for her son.

"This mother bought all her child's school supplies weeks ago and she was there on the first day of school to prepare his meals," Pierre said.

According to reports, Ramsundar attacked his wife with a cutlass as she prepared a meal for their son’s first day of school. Sankar was chopped on her hands and neck and she died in her home while her son slept.

Her screams alerted the neighbours who ran to her rescue but it was too late. After committing the act, Ramsundar ran off into the bushes at the back of his house. Police found his lifeless body hanging from a tree. Relatives of both Sankar and Ramsundar were at Sankar's funeral.

Sankar was buried at the Siparia Public Cemetery.