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.
R.I.P Juliet Mohabir including my most sincere condolences to the family of the bereaved. This is a very sad and unfortunate tragedy that could have been prevented. There are lessons to be learnt of this misfortune however.
All households’ need to double check their “ground-wires” and “earthen-grounding” to all hi-energy (amperage) consumption home appliances (fridges, etc). As well as, insuring the proper wiring is installed including surge-suppressers. I’m sure this will reduce deaths and those houses that are being lost to fires of recent.
People. Stop jumping all over SandHurst. His comments were out of context, but they are to the point. It is refreshing to hear such mature comments from a young man, especially in Guyana. He was echoing what we were all told as children. How many youths display such maturity, as he has. Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water. Sand man, it’s good you still remember words of wisdom spoken to you by the Old Heads.
Yes Thanks a lot.
I feel like a recurring decimal when I say that Guyanese have been and still are NOT taking Safety seriously.
Safety extends beyond the workplace into our homes, through qualified technicians.
The only “Safety” we can hear about is “Traffic Safety” and probably a box of “Safety” Matches.
Come now, my people let’s take this matter seriously by disseminating info via the printed and broadcast media.
do you know if there is a requirement of a breaker box, that is where breakers are used to reduce the current to a specific amt. of amps.
condolences to the family of both and my prayers so sorry.
this is so sad. my condolences to her husband and family. May they be strong to live through this tragedy. Mistake or no mistake, maybe her time on earth is up, and another journey begins. May this young lady find peace. I know of a guy who was drunk, he fell from the train station, he landed between the two train lines, the train – 10 carriages passed over him, and when he was able to get up, he just shook off the dust from his clothes and walked away singing., while i fainted when i saw him dropped. my sympathy to the entire family.
my condolences to the family
Sand, you have proven to be a man, you accept your errors. The fact is, I agree with you, people should listen to others from time to time. She would normally turn off the main before connecting plugs, this time she did not, and died because of that. I do not believe in fate. When we make mistakes, we trigger off a series of events that leads to disaster or near disaster, when we escape, we say we were lucky, or it was not our time. Had this young woman known that water and electricity is a dangerous mixture, or had she listened to her friend, she would have been alive. I lost a friend some time ago, he was advised not to fly a certain aircraft, which belonged to someone who did not maintain it properly. Point is, he had the right to choose, he chose to fly it, and crashed and died as a result. While he was flying, most of the oil was leaking from one of the engines, as a result, there was a fire, fearing a midair explosion, he tried to land, he killed himself and four other people who were in the plane. Fate or stupidity. To the relatives and friends of this young lady, I lament this loss of life, and offer my sincere condolence. May God grant them the strength necessary to comfort them at this time. Sand, take it easy, some people have difficulty separating emotions from the harshness of life. Trust me, I have seen death in a lot of ways, few people know what it is like to fly to accident scenes, and put pieces of bodies into twenty pound sacks. Would you say that two cars driving at 160kmh, crash at a curve, everyone is smashed up. The speed limit is 80kmh, would you call the death of the occupants of the cars, fate or imprudence? Sorry for the upset stomachs, life is real, death is forever, we should learn from other people’s mistakes.
I felt sorry for her she was a kind,and nice person. She LEFT her 2 kids alone.
My condolences to the bereaved family and friends. May God grant you peace during this sad time.
Sandhurst First, though it sounded harsh, what you said makes a lot of sense. More than likely, those were the lament/comments at the home afterwards……IF ONLY!!!
But as BOSTON QUADRO PRO said, “the point is WHEN U TIME REACH FU DEAD, U GAT TO GO BROTHER! IT HAD TO HAPPEN THAT WAY!”
So sad…..so young……R. I. P. Juliet.
It seems like they were a very loving couple. They will meet again one day. It must be a real devastation for such a young husband. Life goes on.
“Pleasures are like poppies spread together”…..Robert Greaves.
In other words, good things don’t last for long.
Red Lion
Before someone correct me, if the quote, “Pleasures are like poppies spread together”, were not that of Robert Greaves, then it was Robert Burns who said that. Both Greaves and Burns were 18th Century Poets.
RL