What did they do to Rachael?

Although the article did not yet name the student, Ramkissoon of Murchison Castle Street in Ste Madeleine immediately became concerned. This is because Rachel lived with her mother Katherine Nicholas, (from whom he is separated), at Talparo Trace, Brazil.

She was a Form Five student of North Eastern College (NEC) at Sangre Grande.

Ramkissoon admitted that the news “troubled” him adding that as a parent, it had crossed his mind that if ever something like that were to happen to his daughter he would not know what he would do.

Minutes later while watching the television programme Beyond the Tape, a photograph of the murdered teen was shown with the face blurred. The victim’s identity was still not revealed.

However, Ramkissoon told Sunday Newsday that by just looking at the partially blurred photograph, his body “went cold” as he realized he was looking at his first-born’s corpse. Rachael was her mother’s only child. Ramkissoon has two other children.

“I immediately dialled her number and the phone went to voice-mail,” Ramkissoon related.

“So, I called her mother but I did not get through. I called another relative and when I asked her for Rachael she said, ‘She supposed to be home’.” The father added: “When I called back Rachael’s mother, she said she was in the station. Immediately I knew the body was that of my daughter. I got confused one-time. I started to pace up and down, I didn’t know what to do. I still can’t believe this really happened. What did they do to my daughter? I can’t imagine the torture she went through before she was murdered. Her teeth were broken, I wish this was just a bad dream,” he said wiping tears from his tears. “Rachael was a scholar. She always came first in her tests. She was always studying.

She wrote Maths and English in Form Four and passed with distinctions. She wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up and was studying hard to get all her subjects so that she could move on to do A-Levels.

Rachael left her home on Friday morning to go to school but never made it to her destination.

According to reports, at about 1.30 pm a hunter found her body in a bushy area near Balata Trace in Arena, lying face up. She was still in her school’s uniform and investigators believed she may have been strangled and possibly sexually assaulted. Reports are that Rachael, who was up studying late the night before, woke up late and as such missed her regular school bus transportation.

An autopsy is expected to be performed tomorrow at the Forensic Sciences Centre at St James.

Speaking to Sunday Newsday at the family’s home at San Raphael, one of Rachael’s cousins and schoolmate, Eliza Francis, noted that they were “like sisters”.

She described Rachael as a very humble, not too materialistic and unselfish individual.

“She was just into her education, always smiling, always fun and always made something into a happy moment,” Francis said.

Francis recalled that on Friday when she did not see Rachael at school, she assumed that her cousin had returned home “because she missed her transportation”.

“It wasn’t until the news broke out on social media that a body was found in Balata Trace that everyone got concerned. Relatives believe that Rachel must have known her killers because she would not have gone into a car with persons she didn’t know,” Francis said.

Balata Trace, the cousin explained, is approximately a 10 minute-drive from Rachael’s home. She added that it is a densely forested road which is extremely lonely and one of a few roads that lead to the Arena Dam.

Other members of Rachael’s family said that Rachael was so driven by her thrust to succeed in life, that she was already saving money to build a foundation for a house in Brazil.

Officers of Region Two Homicide Bureau based at the Arouca Police Station are continuing investigations.