Bharatt's final visit to her Arima Old Road home

ANDREA Bharatt returned to her Arima Old Road home on Friday for one last time.

Her return home was by way of a sealed casket brought by mourners, 15 days after she was kidnapped and eight days after her body was found down a precipice in the Heights of Aripo.

Hundreds of people lined the pavement along Arima Old Road leading to Bharatt's home to wish her a final farewell. A sombre atmosphere coupled with dark, rainy skies set the tone for tears and sobs by family and friends as Bharrat's body arrived on Friday morning.

Bharatt left home on January 28 heading to her workplace at the Arima Magistrates Court. After work that afternoon, she entered a car she thought was a taxi at the Cleaver Road/Arima Old Road taxi stand on King Street in Arima. She never returned home alive, her body being found days later.

The coffin was placed in the centre of the yard surrounded by her trophies, academic certificates and framed photos of her in happier times with her father and mother, the latter who is deceased.

In a fuchsia pink T-shirt with an image of his daughter printed at the front, Randolph Bharatt held tightly onto another relative as he approached the casket which was covered in white, blue and pink floral wreaths.

It took Randolph ten minutes before he touched the casket as he kept his eyes on a video slide show showing some of his daughter's most memorable moments.

Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith arrived just after 9 am and was greeted by a representative of the Bharatt family before he left minutes later. Despite an incessant light drizzle, the crowd grew larger outside the Bharatt family home. Songwriter and singer Collin Craff paid tribute by performing Fly High; an original song dedicated to Bharatt’s life.

After 20 minutes of silence, Bharatt’s body was removed from the yard to the sounds of tassa drummers. The coffin was placed in a white hearse which took her to the Arima Magistrates Court – which was closed for the day – where dozens of her colleagues, many of them weeping, waited. Many touched the hearse as it drove slowly past the courthouse while others threw roses at the vehicle.

The streets of Arima were also filled with people who waited to catch a glimpse of the hearse as it made its way to Arouca for the funeral. A man was heard telling another man, "Nah boy, I had to cry because I feeling it for my daughter who still can’t sleep days after the Bharatt girl was found." Others criticised the judicial system and called for bail to be refused to anyone charged with a serious crime especially against women and children.