Man killed for jewelery

IN the third murder committed in South Trinidad this week, a Princes Town taxi-driver was shot dead in his living room by an intruder who demanded jewelry, while the victim’s terrified wife crawled through a window and jumped six feet to escape.

“I was too afraid to scream for help, so after I escaped from the house, I went to the neighbour’s home and contacted the police,” cried widow Rohini Ramlogan, 42, as she related to Newsday the harrowing events which led to her husband Tommy Ramlogan, 57, being shot dead at their Cipero Road, Jordan Hill, Princes Town home. Police sources told Newsday Ramlogan’s death was the third murder to occur on Thursday and followed the unrelated murders of retired school teacher Daya Ramsook and Goomattee Basdeo, earlier that day. A weeping Ramlogan told Newsday she was in fear for her life and had no choice but to leave her shot husband with the intruder in the house, as she and her son Bobby, 29, ran to the home of a neighbour to seek help.

In fact, the woman was in so much fear, she stayed at the neighbour’s home until the arrival of the police 30 minutes after the incident. With their guns drawn, the officers cautiously entered the house only to find the blood-soaked body of Ramlogan on the floor. Investigators said the deceased, a former Caroni 1975 Ltd employee, was shot in the chest at point-blank range. Officers believe robbery was the motive for the killing, since the gunman was heard demanding jewelry and later stole two cellular phones, a CD player, several CDs and a gold chain. Recalling the ordeal, Ramlogan told Newsday that at 10.30 pm, she and her husband were lying in bed waiting for their daughter Sherry Ramlogan, 26, to return home from her nursing job. “We heard a noise and my husband put on a jersey and went to see what this noise was about. As soon as he left the bedroom, I heard two gunshots and when I peeped by the door, I saw him lying on the ground.”

The grieving woman said the intruder was shaking her husband and asking him for jewelry. “Like he (the killer) did not think my husband was dead. He kept shaking him and telling him to get up and get the jewelry.” Ramlogan said she feared the intruder would turn his gun on her once he found her, so she removed three louvre panes from a window in the bedroom. “I crawled out onto the shed and then jumped,” Ramlogan said. Her son Bobby, met her outside the house saying he had seen the intruder walking through the house and managed to run away. Ramlogan, a domestic worker whose legs were swollen as a result of the fall, said she had no idea what she was going to do now that her husband was dead. The woman said she intends to install burglar-proof  in the house, because she did not feel safe in her home anymore. Ramlogan said her husband planned to rebuild the house next week, using money from the VSEP cheque he received after Caroni 1975 Ltd was shut down. The couple has another daughter, Ann Maria Pariag, who is married and has a 15-month-old baby.

Ramlogan’s killing sparked several complaints from angry residents who said the area was becoming a “hot spot” for crime, since it was lonely and there were no street lights. They told Newsday that for the past year, there had been several burglaries in the area. Visiting the scene was a party of officers led by Snr Supt Desmond Lambert and including ASP Joseph Nathaniel, Sgt Santana, Sgt Maynard and Cpl Renrick. DMO Dr Peter Sagar viewed the body and ordered its removal to the Forensic Science Centre, Federation Park, St James where yesterday efforts were being made for an autopsy to be carried out. No arrests have been made  and Cpl Renrick is investigating. At 11 am on Thursday, Goomattee Basdeo, 51, a mother of two, died at the home of a friend near her Fyzabad home three days after being savagely beaten by a relative. Three hours later, police discovered the body of retired school teacher Dayah Ramsook, at her Alta Garcia Trace, Siparia home.