A 24-year-old mother of two was electrocuted around 2 pm yesterday while reconnecting her refrigerator.
Juliet Mohabir of Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice, who would have celebrated her third wedding anniversary today, met her demise after she tried to connect the refrigerator plug while her hands and a part of her clothing were wet.
After receiving the electrical shock she was rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Mohabir’s sister-in-law, Premwattie “Delly” Sookdeo said that the fridge was unplugged to be cleaned and that two hours later Juliet, who was washing dishes decided to go and “plug it in.”
She said that they would normally take off the main switch before reconnecting the fridge but Mohabir did not want to go all the way upstairs to do so.
According to Sookdeo, she tried to stop Juliet from connecting the plug saying, “Girl, wait leh me see wah you doing; you can’t fit in the corner there to do it properly, you too fat Leh me plug it in.”
However, Mohabir insisted that she could handle it and seconds later she fell to the ground. Sookdeo said she also started to scream, “Run Delly, me gon dead, run and cut off the main switch.”
Juliet Mohabir with her husband, Looknauth Sookdeo shortly after they were married three years ago.
Mohabir’s mother-in-law, Kuntie “Zeena” Sookdeo said she was standing on the “landing when me hear them screaming and me run down to see what happen.” Kuntie, who was inconsolable when this newspaper visited, said that her daughter told her to take off the main switch but in the haste and her confused state she almost fell before she finally reached the switch.
Meanwhile, Premwattie said she lifted the injured woman out of the kitchen and started to “rub she up with methylated and limacol.”
She also tried to contact the woman’s husband, Looknauth Sookdeo, who works at Solid Gold Jewellery in the village, but his phone rang out. In tears, the husband told this newspaper that just after 2 pm two of his friends gave him the news that his wife got “shock.”
He hurried home on his bicycle and was hoping that it was nothing serious but when he got there he saw his wife lying on the ground. He immediately hired a bus and rushed her to the hospital.
He said he and his wife were looking forward to celebrating their wedding anniversary today but instead he is preparing for her funeral.
Today her parents, Karramchand and Narda, who reside next door, would have also been celebrating their birthdays but they too would be mourning on their special day.
The young mother is survived by her parents, siblings, husband and her daughter, Reshme who will be two years old tomorrow and her son Ganesh, who will celebrate his first birthday in December.
Premwattie and Kuntie lamented that Juliet was a nice and quiet person and said they got along well. They regretted that she met such a tragic end.
Water is a conductor of electricity. Wet hands, wet clothes, wet feet, wet boots and even a wet screw driver can cause serious electrical shock resulting in death. People need to be more safety conscious. Taking things for granted that nothing will happen is taking a little to much risk. Nevertheless, Death is Death will certainly bring inconsolable grief at such tragic end of this young woman’s life. May God grant her bereaved husband and all dear ones faith and we hope that our Prayers give them some kind of comfort to endure this iireparable loss. To the little babies she has left they may not remember much of their mother. my heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved family.
The lesson of this tragedy is: Think before you act. Shocking (No pun intended)!
Sad day for all.My condolances to the family.I hope others can learn a lesson from this and take the necessary precautions before attempting any similar activity.
This is such a tragedy; may god grant the family the strength they need to cope with this loss
this incident mirrors the one that accured in linden where a footballer was electrocuted trying to plugg in his fridge also, tragic and sad indeed my sympathy to the bereaved husband and family.
Sandhurst First, SHAME ON YOU FOR SUCH A COLD COMMENT. It was simply an untimely and unfortunate death, no one knew it would have ended in tragedy. Looking at the incident with neutrality the in-law could have suffered the same fate and maybe on the flip side the young lady might have saved the in-law’s life. I am pretty sure she plugged the fridge in before, and thought nothing of it.
To the family, there’s no other way than to descibe this incident as an untimely, unfortunate and extremely sad one, my sincerce and heartfelt condelences are extended to you. Be strong in your time of sorrow.
GPL needs to investigate the amount of power being fed into households, too many recent and sudden electrocutions are occuring. Living in Guyana I remember my bouts of minor shocks trying to fit those fairy lights into the wall socket at c’mas, I know of persons who stole light at one time or another, homes that had loose wires that were very visible, however I cannot recall hearing of electrocutions on such wide scale, as is current and evident now.
In other parts of the world including Guyana you have planning departments with inspectors who would inspect new buildings along with older buildings to ensure that the new ones comply with regulations and that older ones are upgraded to meet these regulatory requirements, to say that these inspections are actually being carried out in Guyana is hard to say,but this young ladies life could have been spared if these laws which are in place were actually executed by the Planning department,it is sad and my condolences goes out to the family.
My condolences to the Mohabir family.
Power surges are common after blackout and I seen a computer fried —in a split second—despite all the surge protector—the surge protector smoked and the computer fried.
Only in Guyana can anyone plug in an electrical appliance and have it totally destroyed or as in this case a person died.
An electrical surge killed Miss Mohabir and it is the fault of GPL. The family of Miss Mohabir should sue the Government of Guyana and GPL.
Oh Rupert, if only, if only, Guyanese had that recourse and came out successfully. Perhaps if they did such tragedies would indeed be prevented or minimised to say the least.
If’ it’s not the electrical company, it’s the Water company, the Hospitals, public and private and many other institutions that are responsible for some of the untold miseries that our people have to endure. And none want to take the blame. But don’t worry according to our aged folks “time longer than twine”
Sincere condolences to the bereaved family
It’s really sad . My condolences to the husband and remaining family members.
So young and got snatched away so fast .
Some things make you wonder , when there’s no answer .
May she rest in peace.
Accidental death……….. could have been avoided if the proper rules for handling electricial appliances were followed correctly.
I am very sorry to have read this story, when a young life such as this is taken suddendly it becomes a tradgey to the loved ones left to mourn. I hope the family will support the husband and the children during this time of grief. The kids will need a lot of love and attention to adjust to not having their Mother present in their lives.
Looknauth, make the children your priority, you will find comfort in their hugs and kisses. Keep your wife’s memory in their lives. God Bless You All!