Charged with wounding sister, neighbour’s attempted murder

Princes Town Magistrate Ava Vandenburg-Bailey yesterday denied bail to 22-year-old Vikash Ramnarine, who has been charged maliciously wounding his 24-year old sister, Tricia Ramnarine, and the attempted murder of 81-year-old neighbour, Solomon Rahiman at Pascall Road, Piparo.

The charges were laid indictably by PC Clarence of the Princes Town CID and so Ramnarine was not called upon to plead.

He is accused of planassing (beating with flat side of a cutlass) his sister. It is alleged that when the sister sought refuge at Rahiman’s home next door, he chopped the elderly man who remains warded at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) in a stable condition.

Neighbours managed to subdue Ramnarine and Sgt Ramlogan together with PCs Khan, Arjoonsingh and Clarence conducted investigations.

Yesterday attorneys Petronilla Basdeo and Adana Pena represented the accused. Basdeo told the magistrate that Ramnarine was an out-patient of Ward One (the psychiatric ward) at the SFGH. The attorney added that her client had been “delinquent in his attendance” at the clinic and had spent one month in the ward.

She noted that his last attendance was on October 15 and requested that her client be remanded at the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital.

Court prosecutor Sgt Shazeed Mohammed confirmed that the accused is an out-patient who was “treated and stabilised” by doctors.

Ramnarine is expected to reappear in court on September 8.