Rio Claro man ambushed, chopped to death

A 21-year-old man was ambushed and hacked to death after the four tyres of his van were punctured outside a bar in Rio Claro, yesterday.

Roger Loubon, a market vendor, of Poole Trace, Rio Claro, was chopped at least seven times about his head, chest, back, and shoulder, and died while being treated at the Mayaro District Hospital. One of Loubon’s ears was partially severed during the attack. Police have since detained two suspects, aged 16 and 19, and are searching for three others, in connection with the murder. Investigators believe that the incident stemmed from an on-going feud between the deceased and a group of men in the village. Loubon’s friend, Joseph Alexander, 29, who was also attacked and chopped on his head, said that he and the deceased had gone to Home Turf Bar, at Guaya-guayare Road, in Loubon’s van, to “lime.” He said when they came out of the bar, Loubon observed that his tyres were punctured.

A man, he recalled, walked up to Loubon and accused him (Loubon) of owing him money and they engaged in a heated argument. The police eventually intervened and told Loubon to go home. Loubon, Alexan-der, and another man and three girls left the bar and started walking down the road, towards their home. About a mile and a quarter away, Alex-ander said, three men, armed with cutlasses emerged from the bushes and surrounded them. He said when he saw one of the men in front of him he turned around and was chopped on his head. “He (cutlass man) say if I trying to save my friend.” Alexander said he picked up a few stones and started pelting his attacker, who started chasing him. “He (cutlass man) joined the two other fellas who were fighting with my friend (Loubon). I see when he (Loubon) fall on the ground and they keep chopping him and he was bawling.”

Eventually, Lou-bon, he said, got up and ran to a neighbour’s house. E-999 officers who responded shortly after rush-ed the semi-conscious man to the hospital where he died shortly after. Alexander said he recognised two of the suspects from the bar earlier. When Sunday Newsday visited Lou-bon’s home yesterday his distraught mother Christina Charles, 42, said someone told her that her son had been chopped and when she arrived on the scene she saw him in a pool of blood. “He told  me who chopped him and that he was going to die,” she added. Charles said Lou-bon and the men who attacked him were always “at each other’s throats.” She said Loubon, lived at Chaguanas with his girlfriend Reshma Seepersad, but had been staying by her (Charles) for two months now. ASP Maharaj and Insp George are continuing investigations.