I am not a psycho,says Francis Gomes

Gomes,who has been also accused of having starved them under captivity,was neither allowed to meet them nor hand over the food to them.

Clad in a striped shirt,a towel wrapped like a scarf and a cap pulled low over his ears,Gomes trudged into the psychiatric ward OPD of J J Hospital around 1 pm,carrying a white polythene bag containing wafers,biscuits and cakes.

A woman,who claimed to be a relative,accompanied him.

After a few minutes of talk with the doctors,he tried to enter the ward where his family is recovering but was turned away at the door by a wardboy who also refused to take the food.

“My daughters are really fond of eating these and I know they would have welcomed me visiting them. But the doctors didn’t allow me to meet them. I have been labelled a psycho when all I wanted was to shield my family from dangerous elements in society. My wife has been mentally unstable from the beginning and my daughters have suffered molestation and eve-teasing and on occasions even asked me to accompany them to college. My wife’s brother has misled the NGO to separate my family from me. I deny all that has been written about me ill-treating my family,” said Gomes.

Meanwhile,Gomes’s second daughter,Genevieve,who was rescued earlier,plans to submit an application in a Thane court to issue summons to her father so as to make him appear for mental health tests. However,Gomes claimed that he has already been undergoing therapy every day at KEM Hospital in Parel,since October 20.

Asked why he had agreed to undergo tests,Gomes explained that that’s the only way he hopes to be reunited with his family.

“Genevieve has been misled by the NGO into believing I am mentally unstable and that’s why she left with them. The only way to silence everyone who is making all these allegations is to undergo the tests they want me to. I have been told to undergo therapy at KEM Hospital from October 20 to 29 and am expecting my first psychological report any time now. They can ignore my protests but will have to give precedence to the doctor’s word. Then no one can keep me away from my family,” he said.

“He had met me a few days ago at Masina Hospital and asked if he could meet his wife and daughters. I had asked him to come to JJ Hospital as we also needed to meet him to know about the history of patients we were treating. He came today and co-operated with all our queries but we felt that it’s still premature to let him meet his wife and daughters and had to hence refuse his request,” said Dr Yusuf Matcheswala who is treating the family.