When I worked at the Veterinary Division, Ministry Of Agriculture in 1966, an unusual incident took place. One of the technicians rushed into the office and announced that the body of Tiwari Maraj, a member of the staff had just been taken to the Public Hospital in Georgetown, after he had committed suicide. It was quite a shock to us because Tiwari, who was on vacation, seemed to be an easy going person and did not show any tendency to do such a thing. However, we were told that he was having domestic problems. Shortly after, I heard one member of the staff making plans for the funeral.
A few members of the staff accompanied me to the hospital. We identified ourselves to the police officer and were allowed to see the body. One of the technicians was quite moved and started to speak to the body: “Tiwari, why did you do something like this? Could you not get counseling?” The police constable then asked if we were willing to identify the body and all of us did so. He then showed us a picture which was taken from the wallet of the deceased. Then we had our doubts. The picture did not appear to be that of Tiwari. We started to observe the body more carefully and realized that we had all made a mistake. It would appear that we went to the hospital with the preconceived idea that Tiwari had died. We did not know the deceased but he did have some resemblance of Tiwari.
Tiwari returned to work the following week and had some fun at our expense. That incident clearly illustrated to me that mistakes can be made. I am sure that such mistakes must have resulted in incorrect court decisions.
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Hector, with staff members at
Vet Division, Botanical Gardens, Georgetown, Guyana |
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Ministry of Agriculture staff at Kyk-Over-Al, Guyana (1965) Kyk-Over-Al was the first Dutch fort built in Guyana, erected possibly as early as 1616. It was also named See-Over-All because of its commanding position at the confluence of the Essequibo, Mazaruni and Cuyuni rivers. |