Disgusted Carapo councillor: Bodies not dumped at our cemetery

Councillor for Carapo Derek La Guerre says he is saddened and disgusted over a video showing the dumping of bodies without coffins at a cemetery.

He insists it did not happen at his community's cemetery.

Last Friday, a video was circulated on WhatsApp which showed men, believed to be funeral home workers dumping dead bodies wrapped in sheets, with little care, in what appeared to be the same grave.

Social media users suggested the location in the video was the Carapo Cemetery.

Newsday visited the cemetery on Tuesday and while there were some similarities to the background of the video, there were too many differences, most significantly a wall around the cemetery which would have been visible in the video.

La Guerre, who lives across the street from the cemetery, told Newsday he had seen the video and was shocked at the lack of care for the bodies. He said activities at the Carapo Cemetery were carefully managed by the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation (TPRC) and it was only opened for funerals.

He also said burials were carefully monitored by his office with records of who was being buried, along with the name of the funeral home carrying out the burial and the names and contact information of relatives and workers.

"It's a very meticulous process, and we don't make joke with that sort of thing at all. What goes on here is monitored extremely closely. We operate extremely rigid, and guard against that kind of thing in our community. We don't allow anything happening like that here."

On the video, he commented: "I saw the video. It's disgusting that dead bodies are treated like that.

"We don't even tolerate the playing of loud music around the cemetery. That's how serious we are."

La Guerre said if something like that were to happen at his cemetery, the TPRC and his office would do their part to find those responsible.

Newsday spoke to a gravedigger, who also denied that bodies were dumped at the Carapo Cemetery.

The man, who asked not to be named, said he too had seen the video and did not believe it took place at a legitimate burial ground.

"I have been working here for almost eight years now, and I can say it didn't happen here. Just look at the layout of the cemetery compared to the one in the video.

"When the video surfaced, I got calls from all different kinds of people, including police, asking me if I knew anything about it, but I told them that wasn't at my cemetery.

"My best guess is that happened somewhere else, or it's an old video that just resurfaced."