Four dead after drinking cocaine-laced tonic

A man, two women and a child died today after drinking what is now believed to be a cocaine- laced tonic which has also left another child critical at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

Dead are 42-year-old Alex Baird and his reputed wife Simone Price and another woman Natasha George. Hospitalized are 12-year-old Jamal and 9-year-old Dukewell, both children of Baird and Price.

Speaking to Stabroek News, Dane Duke, who shared a relationship with George, said he rushed the three adults to the hospital from their Lot 22 East La Penitence home just around 10 am this morning. They died shortly after their arrival.

The man said he lives opposite the family and it was Baird who called out to him and indicated that they had drunk a SSS tonic and were all feeling unwell. The man said at the time he was unaware that the children had also drunk the substance.

According to the man, a relative ‎of Price left for the US yesterday and was asked to transport the tonic. However, the woman indicated that she was unable to do so and left the tonic at the house. The family this morning decided to make use of the multi-vitamin substance. It is not clear who took the substance to the house to be transported.

Police this afternoon issued the following press release:

During this morning Sunday May 04, 2014, Alex Blair, 40 years; his reputed wife Simone Price, 36 years; son Jahaquel Blair, 6 years; and family friend Natasha George, 36 years; all of Cookrite Street, East La Penitence, Georgetown, ingested SSS Tonic into which a quantity of cocaine had been dissolved and later died.

Another son, Jamal Waterman, 12 years, who had also drank some of the liquid, has been admitted to the GPHC and is receiving medical treatment.

Investigations so far have revealed that the bottle of SSS Tonic with the cocaine dissolved inside, along with casareep and chicken foot, had been left at the house by a man known to them for a female guest from overseas to take back when she was returning. She, however, did not carry the items and during this morning the victims consumed some of the SSS Tonic which had been left in their possession.

Investigations are continuing.