KILLED AFTER MURDER

The body of mother of five and grandmother of six Toolsie ‘Tara’ Ramdeen, 47, was found at her Mayaro home by relatives who went to look for her after they failed to contact her over the phone to break the news that her companion Andrew Vasquez had just been in an accident.

Relatives found Ramdeen’s body in the garage located at the front of her home off the Naparima/Mayaro Road in Bristol Village, Mayaro shortly after 12 noon. Two of her granddaughters, aged four and two, whom she was taking care of, were unharmed. Ramdeen, a single parent and Vasquez shared a tempestuous, on-again/off-again relationship that spanned 17 years, relatives revealed. She worked as a foreman with the Forestry Division at Mafeking Village. Vasquez was a pensioner.

Police said that Vasquez may have deliberately driven his silver- coloured Nissan B15 car in the path of an oncoming Jusamco Contractors Ltd truck which was proceeding in the opposite direction along the Naparima/Mayaro Road in Union Village, Mayaro.

The fatal crash took place shortly after Ramdeen was murdered.

Vasquez who was unconscious in the wreck of his car, was taken to the Mayaro District Hospital where he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ramdeen’s mother Annie, 70, told Newsday that a relative telephoned her to state that Vasquez was involved in a serious accident in Union Village, Mayaro.

On hearing the news, Annie said she immediately telephoned ‘Tara’ but got no answer. As such, a relative went to Ramdeen’s home and discovered her body with her throat slit. A bloodstained stainless- steel knife was found on the ground near her body.

The relative ran into the house and found Ramdeen’s two granddaughters, weeping.

“I kept calling her when I heard about the accident. But she never answered. It is a real sad case. The man dead and gone so how am I to get justice? She was taking care of her two grandchildren and no one else was home. I don’t know if he had spent the night or came today,” Annie said.

One of the murder victim’s other daughters Ana Vialva, was in a distraught state. She said Vasquez was never abusive to her mother.

“He was never like that to her or anything,” said Vialva. Cpl Ramsahai, PCs Gillead and Hercules and others visited the scene. Both bodies were taken to the Forensic Science Centre in St James where autopsies are expected to be done today.