Son weeps on hearing how dad’s body was found

RAJKUMAR MOHAN broke down and cried in the San Fernando High Court yesterday as a police sergeant testified that Mohan’s 62-year-old father’s half-naked body was found murdered and hog-tied to a cocoa tree in the Rio Claro forest.

Mohan, of Chaguanas, who identified the body of his father, Surujbally Mohan to police officers, wept openly as Sgt Ramdath Goomiah recalled that the neck, ankles, and wrists of the elderly man were bound with rope when it was discovered in the bushes. The elder Mohan, a taxi driver aka “Billy” of Agostini Settlement, was murdered  between April 29 and May 2, 1999. He was found three days after he was reported missing by his family. On trial for Mohan’s murder are Kamal Pooran and Ramzan Asgarali, both of Rio Claro. Pooran and Asgarali are before Justice Herbert Volney in the First Criminal Assizes. Pooran and Asgarali are represented by attorneys Chaitram Sinanan, instructed by Brian Dabideen, and Rupert Frank instructed by Stedson Jack.

Sgt Goomiah testified that after receiving a report around 11.45 am on May 1, 1999, from Vincent Rivers, Cyril and Hugh Gooney, all of Cushe Village, Rio Claro, and Deochan Jaikaran, of Biche, he and other policemen left on inquiries. Goomiah said about 1/4 mile into Roble Grove Road, Agostini Village, which is an estate of cocoa, bananas, and citrus trees, he saw a body lying on its abdomen. It was clothed in blue underwear and black pants, and about 125 feet away in a fig patch he saw a blood-stained white shirt and vest. Goomiah told the jury the rope was tied around Mohan’s barebacked body, which was partially covered by dried cocoa leaves. The body was examined by the District Medical Officer Dr Kamaluddin Amin, and later removed to the Sangre Grande Mortuary. Around 2 pm Homicide detective Sgt Fitzgerald George and a police photographer arrived on the scene, and photos were taken of the area where the body was discovered and the surrounding areas.

The deceased’s two sons, Rajkumar and Balraj Mohan, were the first two witnesses called to testify by the prosecuting attorney, Althea Alexis. In her opening statement to the jury, Alexis said the two accused were arrested after a policeman saw Asgarali driving a vehicle bearing the same licence plate as the deceased’s taxi. Pooran and Asgarali were arrested almost one year after Mohan’s corpse was found. The case continues today.