MENAGE A TROIS — A RECIPE FOR MURDER

It was a volatile situation — a woman living with both her husband and ex-boyfriend — and perhaps one destined for just where it ended: the shooting deaths of the couple and the jailing of the ex-lover, now charged with five offences arising out of the June 17 incident in Philadelphia.

Many have expressed their views about the murders of Trinidadian Pramatee Rampersad-Celestine, 40, and her New York-born husband, Eugene Celestine, 29. Rampersad-Celestine’s former common-law-husband, Trinidadian Cyprian Diaz, 57, is now sitting in the Philadelphia State Prison charged with the murders and his two children, Michael, 13, and Randy Diaz, 9, are the prosecution’s main witnesses, having reportedly witnessed the gruesome murders. The story itself is weird, and perhaps the real truth may never be known with the husband and wife team dead and the murder suspect sitting in jail, refusing to give Philadelphia police a statement. It is his right, however, not to speak to the police.

Since the murders, families of the murder victims as well as the alleged murderer have given their views on the Philadelphia murders, dubbed a crime of passion by police in that country. Relatives of the dead woman have charged that she was physically abused by Diaz, and that she had run from him, but that he followed her to Philadelphia. On the other hand, family members of Diaz have claimed that Rampersad-Celestine, who is also the mother of Michael and Randy, cheated him out of retirement benefits derived from working over 30 years as a watchman at the Tunapuna County Council. Eugene Celestine’s mother, New Yorker Consuelo Paris-Celestine, have also chipped in saying if she knew what she did now, she would not have allowed her son to marry Rampersad-Celestine. While all this has been said, the burning question, however, is why Diaz, Rampersad-Celestine and her husband were all living together at the two-story row house on 54th and Arch Street, West Philadelphia? Family members of both Diaz and Eugene Celestine, as well as the Philadelphia police and Assistant District Attorney Mark Gilson have confirmed that the trio lived together. The woman’s family are however denying this. Also, why did Rampersad-Celestine invite Diaz to Philadelphia from New York, as claimed by chef Joel Stuart, who now says he is the owner of the contentious Island Style Soul Food Restaurant at 136 S. 60th Street, Philadelphia, an area which can be compared to Nelson Street, in Port-of-Spain. After all, the woman’s relatives said she ran from him after years of abuse. The reason given is money. It has been claimed that Eugene Celestine was not very “well-off” and Rampersad-Celestine, not having much of a job at the same restaurant where she worked in the kitchen, leaned heavily on Diaz to support her and her two children, perhaps Eugene as well.

And where did Eugene Celestine fit into all of this? He was the main player, being American-born, Eugene could have given Rampersad-Celestine something that Diaz could not, even if he tried. So Rampersad-Celestine and Eugene got married and as is the norm, the former got the famous green card, something that thousands of non-nationals wish for. Sometime after her marriage to Eugene Celestine in December 2001, some six months before Diaz returned to the US on May 9, 2001, Rampersad-Celestine and her new husband is reported to have agreed to have Diaz live there. Diaz is said to have moved into the Philadelphia house in September 2002 and was paying a rent. But sometime after the living agreement, things went sour between Rampersad-Celestine and her husband, who reportedly moved out, according to Philadelphia police. Investigators said Rampersad-Celestine had asked Diaz to leave the house by June 30 and police said she brought her husband to get him out sometime over the weekend before the double murders. That appeared to have triggered Diaz, who then allegedly shot the two to death, one by one. Eugene was the first one who was felled. Around 2.20 am June 17, Eugene was found lying face down on the pavement in the first block of North Ruby Street, suffering from a shotgun wound to the head. He was pronounced dead about 35 minutes later at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia police had originally thought that Eugene’s case was an isolated one until they got a call at 2.40 am, summoning them to 106 N. 54th Street, which is around the corner from the spot where Eugene was found. There, they found Rampersad-Celestine’s body in the living room, with a bullet wound to the chest.

It is not clear what time Rampersad-Celestine was shot, but detectives said Diaz stayed in the house with Michael, Randy and their mother’s body for at least 10 hours. In the early afternoon of June 17, Diaz dropped off the boys at Island Style Soul Food Restaurant. Sometime after, the boys walked home and called the police. While not condoning what Diaz allegedly did, who can say this could not have happened to anyone else, given the circumstances. We have heard of triangular murders in this country and other parts of the world. What makes this case unique however, is the fact that they all lived in the same house, seemingly like one big happy family. Surely, Rampersad-Celestine’s family must have known about this. So why are they trying to paint the best picture they can possibly paint of the dead woman? Is it because of everything that is unfolding now? Another question is how did Rampersad-Celestine have in her possession a divorce certificate which was reportedly granted by authorities in Trinidad, according to Eugene’s family. The document reportedly stated that Rampersad-Celestine and Diaz were divorced, but Diaz’s family as well as the woman’s brother, Taran Rampersad, staunchly denies a marriage ever existed. Is there some fraud involved here? There seems to be a lot of covering up on the part of Rampersad-Celestine’s family or perhaps the deceased woman gave them a different view of her living arrangement in Philadelphia. Her relatives claim she was the owner of Island Style Restaurant, Diaz’s family said they both owned it, while chef Joel Stuart said neither of them owned it. Stuart said both Diaz and Rampersad-Celestine began working at the restaurant about three months ago. He said Diaz had been paying the monthly rent of US$800 for the piece of property owned by Emmanuel Charles, 38, of Greenwich Street. The property has a market value of US$10,000, according to the Philadelphia City Records.

While both families continue to try and disgrace each other, there is another matter of paramount importance at hand, that being the custody of Michael and Randy, who are now in the care of the Philadelphia Department of Human Services (DHS) who have said the children are highly traumatised. Having to testify against their father is one thing, then not knowing where they will spend the rest of their lives is another. Their mother’s family as well as relatives of the alleged murderer, say they want custody of the boys. How the custody battle will unfold is anybody’s guess, but family members of both sides should be very careful how they proceed because the possibility exists that neither may get the boys? That decision, however, is up to Philadelphia Judge Lisa Richette, who has placed a gag order on lawyers, social workers, and psychologists involved in the case.