Don’t let my screams go in vain

“PLEASE let not my screams go in vain!” a weeping Carrolyn Yassin stated while reading the eulogy of 20-year-old murdered deaf/mute Annasher Rangoo, whose emotional funeral was held yesterday at the Rangoo residence in Dow Village, South Oropouche, followed by cremation at the Shore of Peace. As she read the eulogy, Yassin said she wanted to read a sentence on behalf of Annasher. “To all the police officers and those in authority, wake up and face the reality at hand, justice...true justice must prevail in my murder. Please let not my screams go in vain,” Yassin stated. Echoing Yassin’s statement, Pastor Winston Mahabir, who officiated at the funeral service, said if justice could not be found by the police, the wrath and vengeance of God would be brought down on Rangoo’s killer/s.

“The blood of Annasher cries out from the ground for justice...justice must be done...if nobody knows Annasher’s killer, God knows and vengeance is His,” Pastor Mahabir thundered before a large crowd of mourners. Among those attending the funeral was Rangoo’s mother Kamla “Molly’’ Rangoo, who had been in hiding in the wake of the chopping incident in which Annasher was kidnapped. Kamla Rangoo wept constantly as she said her final farewell. Grabbing a picture which was placed on top of a simple white coffin that bore the remains of her daughter, Kamla broke down in tears and had to be physically supported as she kissed the photo image of her dead daughter. The funeral was the first time the woman came out of hiding, in apparent fear that the man who kidnapped and murdered her daughter might come after her as well.

Sharon and Sherry Ann Rangoo stayed close to their mother’s side during the emotional funeral. For Sharon, the funeral was even more difficult to handle, since it was she who publicly pleaded for Annasher to be freed unharmed, and it was she who had to identify her sister’s body after it was found in a teak plantation near the Rangoo home. Pastor Mahabir, in his short sermon, warned the gathering to pay close attention to whom they interacted with. “It is not everyone who smiles and laughs with you, are your friend. Not every skin teeth is a smile,” the pastor warned. “For instance, the first murder to take place in the world was Adam and Eve’s son Cain, who killed his own brother Abel. So who is an ordinary individual to approach you and claim to be your friend,” he continued.

Annasher, despite her speech and hearing disability, was known to touch  hearts, Yassin said as she eulogised the woman. “Annasher was able to change anyone’s frown into a smile.  With not one negative thought in her mind, she learned to live life to the fullest, enjoying every moment.” Yassin reflected on Annasher as being one with many hidden talents and one of them being in the arts. “One would feel emanating from her pieces (art) feelings of peace, love and joy,” she said. Yassin also remembered Annasher’s natural beauty which was admired by all, saying, “her explicit beauty that she carried daily, there was no need for her to wear make-up or put on accessories.”

Following the service, the body was cremated at the Shore of Peace, Mosquito Creek under Christian rights. However, another victim in the brutal attack, Rangoo’s sister-in-law, Cindy Rampersad was unable to attend the funeral as she was said to be still warded at the San Fernando General Hospital. Rangoo was brutally killed by an unknown assailant who slashed her throat and dumped her body in a teak forest a mere walking distance from her home. The woman was snatched from her Dow Village home two Sundays ago, while her mother, sister and sister-in-law were repeatedly chopped about their bodies by a masked cutlass-wielding man. Up to late yesterday, no arrests had been made in the Rangoo killing.