Triple-murder accused Azmon Alexander's request to view his mother's body was granted by prisons authorities hours before her funeral took place yesterday.
Alexander's hopes of giving his mother a final send-off appeared to be bleak, as up to Thursday night neither he nor his lawyer, Fareed Ali, had received word from acting Prisons Commissioner Sterling Stewart.
However, early yesterday, prisons officers went to Alexander's cell at the Remand Yard facility at the Golden Grove State Prison in Arouca and informed him his request had been granted.
Around 10 am, Alexander was taken to the Armstrong Funeral Home at King Street in Arima where he was allowed just over 20 minutes to pay his final respects.
His relatives were forced to stand outside under the watchful eyes of a large contingent of heavily armed prisons officers who stood guard at strategic locations in and around the funeral home to prevent any communication with him.
As soon as he was finished, Alexander, who was considered the country's most wanted man before he was captured by police last year, was returned to a prisoner transport van and taken back to the prison.
Details of Alexander's brief excursion out of the prison were not released until after he was returned to his cell yesterday morning, to ensure the smooth execution of the exercise.
Alexander's mother, Mary, died at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, on Monday after suffering a heart attack at her home on Sunday.
Her funeral took place at Myjireh Ministries, Arima, at 2 pm yesterday.
Alexander and his 17-year-old relative face a combined total of 64 charges related to the disappearance of five members of a Brasso Seco family last year.
On October 26, last year, Irma Rampersad, 49; her two daughters Felicia, 17, and Jannelle Gonzales, 19; Jannelle's 14-month old-baby Shania Amoroso; and their next door neighbour Felix Martinez, 52, were reported missing.
After days of searches by police and soldiers, Martinez's body was found on November 8, 2014. Three days later police found Rampersad's and Amoroso's bodies in a duffle bag in a forested area of the community.
On November 15, 2014, police rescued the sisters from a make-shift camp which they had stumbled upon while searching deep in the forest.
Azmon evaded police for over a week before he was eventually captured.
He will reappear in the Arima Magistrates Court on May 12 for the continuation of his preliminary inquiry.