UK: "She was a nurse for the Queen": Tributes pour in for the victim of radio prank
Mangalore Today/ Dailymail
’She was a nurse for the Queen’: Tributes pour in for the victim of radio prank that went tragically wrong
To her friends she was known as the nurse to the Queen - a caring and hardworking mother who walked elderly neighbours of hers to the shop.
Jacintha Saldanha died at King Edward VII hospital staff lodgings yesterday in what is believed to have been a suicide.
Tributes poured in for the 46-year-old nurse today, as her Indian family described their heartbreak.
Only three days before her tragic death, the nurse had transferred a hoax call from two Australian DJs who obtained intimate details about Kate Middelton while she was staying at the hospital.
Benedict and son, Junal Barboza
Mrs Saldanha lived in Bristol with her partner Benedict Barboza, a 49-year-old hospital accountant, known as Ben.
Jacintha’s mother-in-law Carmine Barboza, 69, said she was told about the death when Benedict called her last night.
Speaking from her home in Udupi, Karnataka, south west India, she said: ‘We got a call last night from Benedict informing us that Jacintha had died. He was crying and couldn’t speak much.
‘We don’t know whether we’ll be able to bring her dead body back to India but we desperately hope so.
’We spoke to Benedict again this morning and he said he hasn’t been allowed to see her body yet because of legal formalities and she’ll not be handed over before Monday.
In shock: Mrs Saldanha’s Indian family spoke about their heartache today. Mother-in-law Carmine Barboza, 69, said: ’We just cannot believe what has happened’
’We want to bring her dead body to India to perform her last rites.’
She said that the couple spent last new year with the family in Udupi with their children, son Junal, 16, and daughter Jenice Lisha, 14.
Talking about her daughter-in-law, she said: ‘Jacintha was a very caring woman. She used to call us every Sunday without fail. We just cannot believe what has happened.’
Scrum: John Lofthouse, right, the Chief Executive of King Edward VII hospital and Lord Glenarthur, second right, second right, the hospital’s Chairman, deliver a statement to the media outside the hospital following the death of the nurse
King Edward VII hospital said they it written a letter of complaint to the company about the ’truly appalling’ prank, sent earlier today.
Lord Glenarthur, chairman of the hospital, said that he wanted to ’protest’ against the prank and seek assurances that the station would never do anything similar again.
Mrs Saldanha moved to Britain from the Mangalore region of India more than ten years ago, having previously spent time in the Middle East. Mrs Saldanha’s Indian family spoke about their heartache today. Mother-in-law Carmine Barboza, 69, said: ’We just cannot believe what has happened’
In shock: Mrs Saldanha’s Indian family spoke about their heartache today. Mother-in-law Carmine Barboza, 69, said: ’We just cannot believe what has happened’
The woman is thought to have split her time between the family home and the London hospital, where she stayed in staff lodgings close to the main building.
News of Mrs Saldanha’s death caused shockwaves both internationally and locally.
A neighbour said the family lived in their £130,000 terraced home in Bristol for about eight years.
A friend at the family address said Ms Saldanha’s partner Benedict Barboza, 49, and their teenage son and daughter, were ’very, very shocked and unhappy at the tragedy’.
Neighbour Mary Atwell, 56, said: ’She was a lovely, lovely person who always spoke to you when you saw her in the street.’
’The kids were always polite and well-behaved. The boy often played football on the green outside with his friends. I saw him go off to school yesterday.
’Later in the afternoon I saw a police car outside their home but I didn’t think much of it. I suppose that was when they heard.
’God knows how they must be feeling now. There is a lot of family going in there today.
’She must have taken the whole thing very badly because I don’t think the hospital disciplined her for what happened.
’She simply couldn’t live with herself I suppose.
’But you could always see that she was very dedicated to her job. She was a lovely person.’
Miss Atwell also revealed that the nurse often displayed kindness to her neighbours.
The neighbour said: ’She used to walk an elderly neighbour who has dementia, who lives a few doors along, down to the shops and back.
’She fitted in well around here, they all did. They’ve lived here for at least 10 years and were very quiet and pleasant.
Backlash: 2DayFM DJs Mel Greig, left, and Michael Christian, right, have been bombarded with abuse online since Jacintha Saldanha’s death at King Edward VII hospital’s lodgings was announced
She also called for the Australian DJs to be sacked, saying: ’They should never have been allowed to do what they did.
’They are definitely responsible for this tragedy. She would be alive today if they hadn’t have made that call. It should never have happened.’
Jacintha with Junal and Lisha
Another neighbour said: ’They’re a lovely family - Ben gives my lad a lift when he goes refereeing at Bristol Rovers with Junal.
’It’s so so tragic, she was such a lovely woman.
’She must have thought there was no way back, that’s the only thing I can think of.’
Another neighbour of Mrs Saldanha described the nurse as ’a lovely woman’.
Marianne Homes, 49, said: ’I’ve always known her as the doctor, she was always very smartly dressed.
’Their son was always really into football, we always saw him with a ball kicking it about with his friends.
’She was a lovely woman, everytime I saw her she would talk to me.
’I hadn’t seen her for a while, I wondered what had happened to her it’s so sad to know this has happened.
’She was always so smartly dressed and well presented.
’I think her kids are secondary school age, she definitely has one boy and one girl.’
A former neighbour fought back tears as she described Mrs Saldanha as a ’nice, lovely lady’.
She said: ’What a terrible tragedy - just before Christmas as well. Oh those two young boys - they’ll be heartbroken. Her and Ben were a lovely couple.
’They didn’t live here very long, but they were such nice neighbours - they invited us in for a curry when they moved in.
’They lived here seven or eight years ago, if not more. They kept themselves to themselves mostly.
’They bought their own house and moved on - they were just renting here I think.
’I can’t believe what happened. It’s so sad, so tragic. They always spoke to us - she was such a nice lady.
’It’s devastating to hear she’s gone - and in such circumstances that could be so easily avoided.
A neighbour revealed that she was called a ’nurse for the Queen’ because of her employment at the prestigious London hospital used by the Royal family.
Courtesy: The Dailymail, London