The mother of Jacintha Saldanha was today told the devastating news about her daughter’s death.
The nurse’s family had kept the news from the elderly woman until this morning due to her ill health.
Mrs Saldanha’s brother Naveen told the Standard he broke the news to her earlier today and that she was “devastated”.
He said: “She is very sick and this will make things worse. We are so worried about her.”
Their mother Carmine was in hospital in Mangalore, India, and under sedation for a heart-related illness.
Mr Saldanha added: “We are just praying our mother is okay. It is all we can think about now. We have to concentrate on her health.”
Jacintha Saldanha, 46, grew up in Mangalore in the state of Karnataka and moved to Britain 10 years ago with her husband Ben Barboza, 49. His sister, Irene D’Souza, from Shirva, an hour from Mangalore, said she did not want to comment on the apology made today by the Australian DJs and added her mother, also called Carmine, was finding it difficult to cope “with the loss”.
She said she is waiting to hear from her brother: “We have not received any news from Ben regarding Jacintha’s death today.”
Allwyn Mascarenhas, 51, a childhood friend of Mrs Saldanha, said: “It’s hard to believe that Jacintha is no more. More distressing and hard to believe is that she has committed suicide. She was a strong and determined person. I don’t think Jacintha, who came up the hard way, would give up so easily for some trivial reason.”
Mr Barboza is planning on taking his wife’s body to India for burial at Shirva.
Today, wellwishers were visiting Mr Barboza and the couple’s two children Lisha, 14, and Junal, 16, at the family home in Bristol.
