Pensioner found murdered

The decomposed body of a 67-year-old man was found, with both hands bound, in a wooden/galvanise shack near a canefield at the back of the Gasparillo Composite School yesterday. The body was identified as Harrilal Ragoonanan. Some vendors and teachers said that Ragoonanan turned up at the school for a box lunch every day, but when he failed to appear last Thursday, they went looking for him. However, Ragoonanan’s friend, Vishnu Suraj, found the body inside the shack at Rahaman Drive, off Bonne Aventure Road, Gasparillo, at 11.30 am yesterday.

The shack is situated in a canefield behind the school and in front of the Islamic Home for Children. Police have not determined a motive for the killing, but homicide detectives believe Ragoonanan was killed for his pension. Ragoonanan’s body was lying on its back on an old mattress in the shack. A radio was on top of the body and, according to a police report, the electrical radio cord was used to bound the right hand against the right leg. The cord was also tied to the left hand, and a chain resembling a piece of jewelry was found around Ragoonanan’s neck. Police said it was apparently used to strangle the elderly man.

Suraj, a vendor who sells near the school, told police he last saw Ragoonanan alive last Thursday. He said Ragoonanan asked him for $5 to go to Marabella. He told police that Ragoonanan had lived alone in the shack for the past six years. Suraj said Ragoonanan would visit the school for a box of lunch on a daily basis. When he did not turn up on Thursday, Suraj said he went in search of him. Visiting the scene was a party of policemen from the Gasparillo Police and San Fernando Homicide Bureau, including Insp Celestine Phillip, Insp Terry Khan, Sgt Singh, and Cpls Garcia and Ramnarine.