Gasparillo businessman murdered

Maharaj’s wife is now traumatised and relatives of the slain man are asking why he was killed even though bandits made away with over $ 40,000 in cash and jewellery.

“How could someone watch another person and kill them in cold blood like that?” lamented Maharaj’s sister-in-law. “How could someone steal from someone who has worked so hard to get the things they have? These killers did not create life. Why do they think they have the right to take it? Now a child is going to be living without a father, and a wife will be living without a husband.

I wonder how they would feel if someone did that to them or their children?” Newsday was told that at about 9 p.m. on Monday, two gunmen stormed the home and tied up Maharaj and his wife after assaulting them. The house was ransacked and jewellery and money was taken. While the couple pleaded for their lives, the gunmen demanded more money.

Maharaj was taken to his wife’s business place, a spa located near their home, where more money was stolen. When they returned to the home, one of the gunmen shot Maharaj in the head before he and his accomplice escaped in a vehicle. Maharaj’s wife, who was still tied up, managed to free herself and telephoned her sister for help.

“I was sleeping when I got the call,” said the sister. “When I answered the phone she just said quietly ‘robbery’. I immediately called the police and I got in my car and went to the house. Police were there within minutes but they still didn’t get there in time.” Relatives told Newsday at the Forensics Science Centre in St James yesterday, that Maharaj was a landscaping contractor and that his nine-year-old son was not yet told that his father is dead.

The murder toll for the year now stands at 339 as compared to 323 for the same period last year.