SHALIZA HASSANALI
Senior Investigative Reporter
shaliza.hassanali@guardian.co.tt
Rima Hosein lost her two sons weeks apart–her youngest son Matthew Hosein, 17, mysteriously disappeared on August 25.
Her firstborn, Mikiel Hosein, 19, who went in search of Matthew, also vanished on October 31. Mikiel’s decomposing body was found nine days later.
The double tragedy, she told the Sunday Guardian, is the “worst nightmare” of her life.
“I had both my sons. I worked hard to mind them boys and then to lose them like that in a matter of weeks has been a hard blow for me ... a real hard blow. Life will never be the same again,” said Hosein, 39, during an interview on Tuesday.
The mother strongly believes that Mikiel’s relentless search for Matthew drove him to his death.
Hosein said Matthew was in a joyous mood after collecting his Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate results and several awards at his Carapichaima West Secondary School in August. He had obtained seven CXC passes and set his heart on becoming a cardiologist. However, he never lived to fulfil his dreams after vanishing on Arena Road, Freeport, on August 25.
An extensive five-day search by the Hunters Search and Rescue Team (HSRT) and police came up empty-handed.
Rummaging through Matthew’s belongings for clues, Hosein said she found suicidal notes which she handed over to the police.
In one note dated August 20, Matthew requested that he be buried in a particular outfit and a special song be played for his funeral service.
“I don’t think Matthew killed himself, he had so much to live for,” Hosein said, admitting that many people envied her son for his accomplishments and the clothes he wore.
Hosein said Matthew’s strange disappearance tore the family to pieces and pushed Mikiel to search for his younger brother with whom he had shared a special bond.
“I warned Mikiel not to go looking for Matthew. I told him that was the police’s job and let them do their investigations but he refused to listen.”
On October 31, Hosein said Mikiel left home, stating that he was going to search for Matthew. Hosein recalled her last conversation with Mikiel.
“He told me he was going to find whoever killed Matthew. I advised him not to go searching or to ask questions because it could land him in trouble.”
She said Mikiel had accused her of taking Matthew’s disappearance “too easy” and was determined to bring some closure to his disappearance.
Mikiel was last seen in a Chaguanas bar with friends but never made it home.
Hosein began searching for her second son.
On November 9, the grieving mother heard an unidentified body was found at Woodford Lodge in Chaguanas. Deep within her gut, Hosein said, she knew the corpse was Mikiel’s but was prevented by the police from viewing the body which they believed was a 63-year-old man.
“One officer kept telling me it have nothing for me to see, that it was not my son. As a mother, you does know when your child dead. I smell Mikiel in the house, it smelt of death.”
The night Mikiel left home, Hosein said, her stomach started to churn as she knew something was wrong.
For three weeks Hosein waited for someone to claim the body, but no one stepped forward. Eventually, she was given clearance to view the body in late November at a funeral agency in Couva.
It turned out that Hosein’s intuition was right, as the first thing she noticed on the corpse was a tattoo Mikiel had engraved on his left arm after Matthew went missing.
The tattoo bore Matthew’s name with two doves which signified the brothers’ love and devotion for each other.
“It was just a small piece of flesh with the tattoo that was stuck onto the bone that I was able to identify Mikiel’s body.”
Hosein said due to the body’s advanced stage of decomposition, Mikiel’s cause of death was unknown.
“The body had no kidneys, heart and liver, there were no organs to determine how he died.”
The unfortunate turn of events, Hosein said, weighed on her.
Turning to God for comfort, Hosein said there have been more questions than answers, as she needed closure on Matthew’s disappearance and Mikiel’s killers to be brought to justice.
As for Christmas, Hosein said, this is the last thing on her mind.
“How could I celebrate Christmas knowing that Mikiel was killed and his murderer or murderers are still roaming free while Matthew is still unaccounted for? I can’t bear to see everybody with their children for Christmas and I don’t have Matthew with me. This pain is too much, just too much. I cry every day not knowing where my son is or what has happened to him. I now know how a mother feels when they lose a child. But knowing you lost your two sons weeks apart, oh God, this is killing me.”
Hosein said she has been trying to be strong for her five-year-old daughter Annalise Lopez who has not been coping well.
Annalise and Mathew were inseparable.
“The hardest thing is not hearing Matthew’s voice and I still cannot accept Mikiel is gone.”
Promising not to give up hope, Hosein said, she has put all her trust and faith in God.
“I am not giving up. I just hope Matthew is alive.”
In grief and pain, still waiting for a reply
Distraught mom Sharon Chapman has been expressing her grief and pain by calling and WhatsApping her son’s cell phone since he went missing four months ago.
Despite not getting a reply, Chapman refuses to think that her 22-year-old son Oreon Gomez is dead.
Gomez left his Blanchisseuse home on August 26 to make arrangements for a hiking trip he had organised. Unknown to his family, Gomez went on a date in Arima with a woman whom he met online. That was the last time he was seen alive.
Fighting hard to contain her tears during a telephone interview on Monday, Chapman admitted that managing without her only child has been a living hell.
One way of dealing with her anguish, Chapman said, was calling or messaging Gomez’s phone. Gomez was Chapman’s pride and joy.
“Up to today, I messaged him asking where he was,” she admitted.
However, the WhatsApp messages would only show one tick which meant the phone was either switched off or had no signal. Her calls would go straight to voicemail.
“No mother who loves and cares for their child or children would give up on them. I would message Oreon with the hope of seeing two ticks on his phone, I also pray that he would answer my call one day.”
Had Gomez been around, Chapman said, he would have celebrated his 22nd birthday on November 6.
Chapman still sent Gomez a birthday greeting on his phone, hoping to get a reply.
“I sent him a message wishing him a happy birthday. I know he had big plans for his birthday ... one of them was to go to Tobago.”
For yet another time Chapman’s heart was broken, as the message did not go through.
In her quiet moments, Chapman, 42, said she would pray for his safe return.
At night, she is unable to sleep as she wonders where Oreon could be or if he is being held against his will.
These thoughts, she said, worry her to no end.
“It’s one of the worst things a parent could go through. Coping has been very difficult. You don’t have answers to many questions. It’s stressful.”
This Christmas, Chapman said, there would be no celebration or joy at her home.
“I just don’t have the zeal to do anything. I don’t feel like socialising much since this dilemma.”
Chapman said Gomez’s disappearance has affected not only her family but the entire rural community.
She also wondered if Gomez’s investigation ran cold, as the police no longer provided her with updates or information about her missing son.
“I haven’t heard from the police in months.”
‘Grieving for my mom’
Every night, Kelly Adsett clutches a photograph of her mother against her chest to fall asleep.
It’s a painful routine for Kelly since her 62-year-old mother Christina Adsett, a businesswoman, was last seen alive on September 11 at her Suchit Trace, Penal, home.
Police found Adsett’s back door open but there were no visible signs of forced entry.
Her cell phone and car keys were discovered inside the house.
Adsett is one of 34 people over the age of 60 who went missing between January 1 and November 30 of this year, according to data provided by the HSRT.
Despite offering a $20,000 reward for her mother’s whereabouts, Kelly who lives in England said no one came forward with any information.
“Please if you have information regarding my mom, come forward. Imagine if this was your mother or loved one missing,” she pleaded.
The family also sought help from the British police as Adsett is a British citizen.
Kelly slammed the Government and T&T Police Service (TTPS) for not doing enough to find people who are missing in T&T.
“They don’t care. It’s not their family. You have the wrong people in Parliament. They only think about themselves and all this will carry on until it happens to one of them. I hope they feel the pain one day and no one is there to help them.”
Kelly said she sent emails to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and some MPs to help find her mother but they were “ignored”.
Three months later, Kelly said there were no new leads in her mother’s case.
“They are not interested. Why do you think all these people are missing? Words can’t explain how I feel. No one understands. I have lost my mum.”
Insisting Adsett had no enemies and worked hard for what she wanted, Kelly said, she felt proud of her mother’s accomplishments.
Kelly said she was amazed at how quickly the TTPS recovered a cellular phone stolen in 2018 from the son of Finance Minister Colm Imbert but had great difficulty finding missing people.
“All I want is my mum. I miss her voice. Life is already hard and it has been harder without her. I cry to sleep every night holding a photo of her close to my heart. I wish this was a nightmare that I would wake up from.”
She said there were many unanswered questions surrounding Adsett’s mysterious disappearance.
“I hope I get answers.”
Spending Christmas without Adsett, Kelly said, would be sad and painful.
“Christmas would never be the same again. This time of year would be hard with everyone celebrating with their loved ones and my mom won’t be here.”