Kamini Gopeesingh's remains to be brought home from Miami

FORMER minister of education and MP for Caroni East Dr Tim Gopeesingh says arrangements are being made to have the body of his late wife, attorney Kamini Gopeesingh, repatriated.

Kamini, Gopeesingh’s wife of 46 years, died last Friday at a Miami hospital. She had been ailing for some time.

Gopeesingh told the Newsday on Monday he is working with agencies here and in Miami to get the body back to Trinidad for her final rites.

“I am working with the hospital and hospital doctors and funeral agencies, both in Trinidad and Tobago and Florida and the various agencies that have to deal with the necessary documentations. I am also in touch with the TT consulate in Miami to go through this massively bureaucratic process, which takes days to complete. So, I am trying to see how quickly I can get these things done.”

He said he is encouraged, as he has the support of all the agencies that have to be on board.

“I look forward to a quick conclusion of all these aspects,” he said.

Details of the funeral will be announced at a later date.

Kamini was the daughter of the late president-general of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha Dr Deonarayan Omah-Maharajh and Shyamdevi Omah-Maharajh.

In a statement after her death, her family described Kamini as a highly accomplished woman and truly beautiful soul who devoted her life to her family and helping others through her legal practice.

She was among the first graduates from the Hugh Wooding Law School in 1975,  when there were fewer than ten female attorneys practising locally.

With her close friend and classmates at Hugh Wooding, Ynolde Martineau, the wife of former attorney general Russell Martineau, QC, and Tobago-born attorney Glenda Edwards, Kamini co-founded her own Port of Spain law firm – Gopeesingh, Martineau, Edwards and Co – in 1977. This was the first law firm run exclusively by women. It made its mark in civil matters and as instructing attorneys to a number of senior counsels in several high-profile court matters over its 30-plus years