An elderly patient who stole another patient’s handbag while being treated in the casualty department of the San Fernando General Hospital has been placed on a $3,000 bond to be of good behaviour for one year. Chandrabhosh Maharaj, 63, an epileptic, who arrived at the hospital in an ambulance complaining of chest pains, blamed his actions on the medication administered to him at the hospital, saying it had him confused. He pleaded guilty to stealing a woman’s $200 handbag, which contained a $200 cellphone, a $200 watch and $120. The incident happened at the Accident and Emergency Department on Thursday around 7.20 am.
The woman left her handbag in a cubicle in the hospital and went to have an X-ray done. When she returned the bag was missing. Estate Constable Anders Lezama observed Maharaj acting suspiciously and searched him. In a bag, in Maharaj’s possession, the constable found the woman’s handbag. Maharaj was taken to the police station where he was charged. Maharaj told the magistrate: “I was a patient. I was getting IV (intravenous fluid) for epilepsy and I have a chest problem. One of the doctors advise me to go in a room under the medication. I was all confused. The nurse tell me to come in a next room and I pick up all the bags thinking was mine. I was not thinking under the medication. “I apologise for my mistake...I never thief before in my whole life.” Maharaj said he also suffers from Hepatitis C and is taking treatment for his alcohol problem.