Doctor arrested in Chandra’s killing

A WELL-KNOWN doctor was arrested in a dramatic police operation at Piarco International Airport on Monday night in connection with the ongoing investigations into the ten-year-old murder of Dr Chandra Naraynsingh. According to reports, members of the Homicide Bureau were at the airport awaiting the arrival of the doctor who was away on official duty. Further reports revealed that the doctor was debarred from entering Barbados and when the BWIA flight touched down at Piarco, he was quickly nabbed by the police in full view of arriving passengers and staff at the airport. He was immediately whisked away to the Homicide Bureau in Port-of-Spain for questioning into the death of Dr Naraynsingh outside the Langmore Health Foundation at Palmyra Village, San Fernando, on June 29, 1994.

The doctor was the third person to be arrested by the police as they  shocked the nation on Monday morning by arresting two persons almost simultaneously in Caroni and San Fernando. Investigators detained a woman at Caroni, and a businessman in San Fernando. Yesterday was a very busy day at the Homicide Bureau. A number of lawyers had been in and out of  Police Headquarters as they took turns visiting the three suspects in police custody. Among the lawyers seen at the Homicide Bureau were Desmond Allum SC, Rangee Dolsingh SC, Prakash Ramadhar, and Rajiv Persad. According to investigators, an attempt to conduct an identification parade for the woman was called off yesterday afternoon because suitable persons were not available to go on the parade. In the case of the doctor, police were working on putting him on an ID parade last night.

In the case of the businessman, there was no need to hold a parade, sources added. But it was a cat-and-mouse game all day yesterday between the police and the media. Media personnel remained outside of the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court from 9 am until 3.45 pm awaiting the arrival of the suspects to make their first appearance before a magistrate. It was a case of ‘just now’ each time a call was made to the police. Shortly after 3 pm attorneys Allum and Persad walked past the media personnel outside the courthouse as they went to the Homicide Bureau to enquire about the status of the doctor. Investigators under newly-promoted Senior Supt Dyo Mohammed kept the three suspects in custody last night and indicated that a decision will be made today after consultations with Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Geoffrey Henderson.

Dr Chandra Naraynsingh, 38, was shot dead while sitting in her car outside her place of employment. A suspect, hit man Sean Parris, was identified days after the killing, but when a check was made, he had fled the country and was believed to have been hiding in the United States. A warrant was issued for his arrest. Parris was caught in the US and extradited to Trinidad in 2000. He was formally charged with the murder and went through the preliminary inquiry at the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court following which he was committed to stand trial for murder. However, Parris pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter in February this year and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole before the expiration of 30 years. That sentence was passed by Justice Herbert Volney. When one thought that investigations into the murder of Dr Naraynsingh had ended, the police sprang a surprise on Monday with two arrests followed by the detention of the doctor on Monday night.