Senior Reporter
Jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
Relatives of Alana Mathura, who died in custody 17 days after she was charged with murdering her daughter Hanna, say she was innocently charged.
In a statement yesterday, family members said Mathura went from being happy to dying within days.
“Alana Mathura was a gentle, soft-spoken and kind woman. She loved her family very much. In the seven months after she was released from police custody, she was happy, healthy and doing very well under the care of her husband.
“She was charged without concrete evidence for a crime which she did not commit. Terrible traumatic experiences from behind bars triggered an unprecedented reaction leading to her untimely death. She never got a chance to plead. Her husband and children are grieving immensely.”
Mathura’s son, Jeremiah, said his mother needed support which she never received.
“From the last conversations I had with my mother, I could tell her end was near and she just wanted to spend time with her husband.
“I believe the state had a solemn duty to ensure the safety of my mother, especially when I disclosed to them that my mother was confined to that house and ostracised by her immediate family. She wanted help and I feel as a son I have failed her, and I will live with that guilt for the rest of my life.”
He said on the day his sister’s remains were found, his mother pretended that nothing had happened, prompting the family to seek mental help for her.
Alana, 63, was charged alongside her husband, Andrew, with murdering Hannah, 18, at their Butu Road, Valsayn property seven years ago.
On October 15, the couple were charged with murdering their daughter on an unknown date between July 8, 2017, when she was last seen alive, and March 13 this year, a day after her skeletal remains were unearthed in the backyard of the family’s home.
Hannah’s bones were excavated from the backyard of their home on March 12. Information given to the police by a family member was that Hannah died and was buried in the backyard sometime in June 2017.
Police reported that Alana was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope on Thursday night and died early Friday morning. They said since her detention, she had been refusing to eat and fell ill as a result.
Jeremiah said the state needed to do more to protect women and girls like his mother and sister.
“The day my sister’s body was discovered, my mother’s world crashed, I saw it. I remember telling the police she herself is a victim of circumstances that I would not be able to disclose.
“I requested that the police ensure my mother receives care both physically and mentally. My mother’s physical and mental health were always a concern. She never spoke of what she was going through and all the personal battles she would have been facing,” he said.
Jeremiah said Alana, who gave birth to eight children, and doted on Hannah, who needed special attention.
“When Hannah died, I could imagine that my mother’s mental health declined rapidly and she started denying her daughter was gone,” he said.
“I firmly believe more must be done to protect women and girls of this country because not enough is being done and women have nobody to reach out to and we see what had happened to Hannah and now my mother, what’s next?”
