Court stops funeral of woman, 88, for autopsy

A High Court judge has stopped a funeral scheduled for 3 pm on Thursday for an autopsy to be done on the body of an 88-year-old pensioner whose daughter thinks she was starved to death.

On Thursday, Justice Frank Seepersad granted the injunction and ordered that the autopsy on the body of Toolin Bocas should be done by 9.30 am on Monday.

He also ordered Bocas’s daughter Neffriffe Bocas Larkin to pay the cost of the autopsy, funeral costs and further storage costs.

Bocas Larkin, a nurse who lives in New York, filed the emergency application against a close relative who was taking care of her mother until her death on February 11.

Her lawsuit says there was an ongoing conflict between the parties over the clinical and nutritional care of her mother. It said the conflict arose in the US and ended up in Trinidad.

The lawsuit alleged that Toolin Bocas was kept isolated from family and now her assets – which included a US-dollar account and proceeds from her monthly pension – were in jeopardy, while Bocas Larkin has been denied access to the family’s home, which her father left to his widow and four children in his will.

The injunction application included a previous court order in October 2021, giving Bocas Larkin access to her mother, via video and phone, five times a week.

The order said there were to be no interruptions and Bocas Larkin was also allowed supervised physical access to the family’s home to visit her mother for seven days, three or four times a year, also without interruption.

She was also allowed to provide food, coconut water and medication for her mother.

In that order, Justice Joan Charles also agreed for Bocas to be medically examined at her home. The doctors, who included a psychiatrist, had to be approved by attorneys for the parties.

Both relatives were also ordered not to harass, verbally abuse or threaten each other.

Attorney James Philbert is representing Bocas Larkin.