Retired school teacher found dead in river

RETIRED mathematics school teacher Ralphy Ramcharan was found dead yesterday, hours after a relative made a missing person report to the police.

Police sources told Newsday that a relative of Ramcharan informed the police that he left his Debe, San Fernando, home to go to Curepe to tutor a student sometime on Tuesday, but he did not return.  Relatives reportedly made several futile searches for Ramcharan and eventually made a report to the San Fernando police when they failed to locate him. Around 10 am yesterday, Ramcharan’s naked body was found submerged in a river by three gardeners who were going to attend to their crops in a garden off a dirt track south of the Maritime Plaza Roundabout. Ramcharan, 41, was beaten to death.  His hands were tied in front of his body with green cord, while his legs were bound at the knees and ankles.  

A wheel spanner, suspected by the police to be the death weapon, and burnt clothes, believed to belong to Ramcharan, were found near the scene. Police said they could find no clear motive for the retired school teacher’s killing, the 53rd for the year, according to homicide sources.   However, lawmen say they are working along certain lines, including a possible kidnapping.  The police have estimated the time of death to be sometime on Tuesday night at the same location since there was blood around the area. According to the police, the three gardeners were walking along Black Dirt Trace around 10 am yesterday when they discovered a body lying face down in the river.

After the find, the shocked trio contacted the Barataria/El Socorro Police Station and a party of officers headed by Sr Supt Desmond Lambert,  visited the scene and conducted investigations. District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Althea Holder also visited the scene, viewed the body,  pronounced it dead and ordered its removal to the mortuary for onward transmission to the Forensic Science Centre.