Who ordered Chandra’s death?

Special Report

Who ordered the killing of Dr Chandra Narayansingh in June 1994? It wasn’t Shaun Parris who on Thursday was sentenced to life imprisonment. He certainly pulled the trigger that pumped six bullets into the body of the defenceless woman. But he was carrying out a contract, acting on instructions from two men who were themselves acting on orders from a mystery woman/man. In the beginning when Parris accepted the $10,000 contract to “take out” Chandra, Parris did not know who she was or who wanted her dead. He simply took the “job” and planned it well. Faking a limb injury, he put his hand in a cast so as to look like one of the Langmore Foundation’s patients and waited in the Langmore car park for the doctor who worked there in the field of Naturopathy. He saw her come out of the building, watched her walking to her car, saw her smile at him and then “squeezed” one shot off the gun. Then another round and another round and another round and finally emptied the last round into the body of the dying doctor who was slumped down on the passenger side of the car.

A woman he did not know. In the words of Justice Volney: “This was a classic case of premeditated killing for money — a contract killing, an unlawful killing with malice aforethought.” Many things about the case are worrying. But what has shocked and perplexed the public is the State’s decision to change the indictment from murder to the lesser count of manslaughter to which Parris quickly pleaded guilty. Again in the words of Volney, “It was the good fortune of the prisoner to avoid the sceptre of death by hanging,” adding that he could find no other case on record where a contract killer did not face trial for murder. Neither can any others who are left wondering what had happened. So how did Parris escape the death penalty? According to the experts the DPP had two choices. He could have continued with the prosecution on a murder indictment and faced the possibility of a killer going free because of the evidence available to him, or he could have done what he did — file a new indictment for manslaughter and get Parris to plead to it and face a long time in prison. He chose not to take the chance of another murder accused walking free but going to jail.

But was this another instance of poor police investigations, evidence of which could have been torn to shreds by a clever lawyer enabling Parris who was prepared to take life for money, a dangerous killer, to walk free? Since January, 15 people accused of murder have been freed by the courts because of poor investigations. There is another theory. A full scale murder trial would have revealed the identity of the person or persons who wanted Chandra killed. Thursday’s decision was an amazing end to a story that has gripped the country for ten years. And at the end of it we still don’t have the answers, and perhaps never will. What is clear is that the real killers have gotten away with the crime. The story began on the afternoon of June 29, 1994.

Dr Chandra Narayansingh was working at the Langmore Health Foundation in South. She lived in Buena Vista Road, St Joseph in the lovely family home which she once shared with her husband, highly respected surgeon Dr Vijay Narayansingh and their five-year-old daughter, Anamika. But she and Vijay had been separated for 18 months and he lived in another house. Reports indicate that they were going through legal process with respect to property and alimony settlements and such like matters that are usual when a marriage has broken down. Her death was a severe shock not only to the people of the Langmore Foundation but to the public in general and speculation was rife as police began investigation.

Her grief stricken mother who lived in Canada, flew to Trinidad shocked at the brutal end of her beautiful 38-year-old daughter. At the Hindu funeral the media was excluded from the house, only able to take pictures in the open air cremation. Among the many mysteries that remain unsolved is the fact the killing was witnessed by several people. But the police seemed incapable of getting information. Rumours and speculation were rife until police eventually focussed on a man by the name of Shaun Parris. But he had long skipped the country apparently as much afraid of the police as of the people who had ordered the contract. He had good reason to be fearful for the two men who gave him the contract were themselves eliminated in 1996. He fled the country in July 1994. Eventually the police located Shaun Parris, originally from Gasparillo, but who had long skipped Trinidad. As fate would have it he got into trouble with the law in the USA and was arrested and jailed for armed robbery.  On being informed, the Police here began extradition proceedings. It went on endlessly and Parris did not arrive in Trinidad before June 17, 2000 — six years after killing Chandra. He was taken into custody by Supt James Philbert and Insp Paul of the Homicide Bureau and charged with murder.

Preliminary enquiries began in November with state witnesses appearing and eventually Parris was ordered to stand trial before Justice Herbert Volney.  The trial began in May 2003 but was marked by one delay after another. First there was a problem with getting legal aid for Parris who rejected one lawyer after another. He wanted Desmond Allum, Snr Counsel, who was unavailable. With Volney’s patience wearing thin, Parris eventually declared himself satisfied with Keith Scotland and the trial started though there were more delays. Finally a start was made on February 7 last week, but even then there were problems with State prosecutors Wayne Rajbansee refusing to participate in the selection of the jury and Parris engaging in loud outbursts at the judge. Parris had been indicted on November 9, 2001 for murder. Now on February 11, 2004 a second indictment was made for manslaughter to which Parris promptly agreed, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life.

The confession which Parris gave to the police called names of people. Did the police interview them?  One was a mystery woman described by Parris as being of Indian descent, black shoulder-length hair almost on her back, with fat cheeks fuller than the deceased. “The both occasions I saw her she was either driving a white Lancer or white 290C. She could have been in her 30’s,” he said. He said that the first attempt he made to kill Chandra was aborted because her child was in the car with her and he did not want to hurt the child. And so ten years later, the country is left wondering whether justice has been served. Only time will tell.

Shaun Parris —

‘A very lucky hitman’

By FRANCIS JOSEPH

SHAUN PARRIS is a very lucky hitman. He brutally cut down a woman in the prime of her life and he will not go to the gallows. He accepted the job of killing Dr Chandra Narayansingh for $10,000. He carried out the execution, pumping several bullets into the body of this woman, in the car park of her place of employment at the Langmore Health Foundation at Palmyra Village, San Fernando. According to Parris, he got the job from two men whom he identified as Ken Morris and Errol “Rev” Pierre. But they were also acting on instructions of a woman who wanted Chandra dead. Why did someone want Chandra dead? That story may never be told because both Morris and Pierre were killed in 1996. Morris, described as a notorious drug dealer, was shot dead by the police on January 9, 1996 at a house at South Oropouche. Pierre was shot dead on December 10, 1996 at Ste Madeline. Three men were charged but eventually acquitted due to the lack of evidence.

That leaves the mystery woman who ordered the hit. Why was this woman not charged with murder, or at least conspiracy to murder? Who would have given the evidence against her? Certainly not Shaun Parris, the hitman! Parris was the principal in the killing of Dr Chandra Narayansingh. Would that be poetic justice to have the hitman turn state witness and given an immunity from prosecution? On January 20, Justice Herbert Volney threw out the evidence of an accomplice witness, leading to the acquittal of three murder accused. Nigel Matthews, Martin Layne and Grafton Surzano had been charged with the murder of Mervyn Wright outside the Ultra Care Pharmacy in Diego Martin on June 3, 2000.

But the man who became the state witness, Kerry Joseph, was described as the principal, coming to give evidence against the secondary parties to the killing. Justice Volney upheld the submissions by the defence and rejected Joseph’s testimony. That left nothing in the tank for the prosecutors, and therefore the case fell apart. If the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had ordered the arrest of the “mystery” woman, he would have faced a serious problem getting a conviction and everything would have fallen apart. To convict the woman, the DPP would have had to use hitman Parris and grant him an immunity from prosecution, just to get at the woman behind the scene.

In the Williamsville murder case, Dole Chadee was the man who ordered the hit on the Baboolal family. He did not go on the scene. His gang went ahead and carried out the killing. Gang members Clint Huggins and Levi Morris, who participated in the brutal killings, turned State witnesses and testified against the boss. From the evidence, neither Huggins nor Morris could be described as the principal persons behind the shootings. It was clear from the evidence that Robin Gopaul was the trigger man who killed three of the persons inside the house. Could the DPP have succeeded if he had granted Gopaul an immunity to testify against Chadee? It may not have succeeded. It was the same thing in the murders of Anthony “Tooks” Greenidge and Stephen “Bulls” Sandy. Naresh Boodram wanted them dead and he ordered Joey Ramiah to do the job. Huggins and Siewpersad Dass were involved in the killings. Huggins and Dass were used as the witnesses against Boodram who ordered the hit, and the triggerman Ramiah. At the burial ground in Caroni, one must remember that it was Ramiah who dug out the intestines of the two men.

In the killing of Hansraj Sumairsingh, chairman of the Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation, it was contended that Dhanraj Singh ordered the hit. Singh and Elliot Hypolite were first charged, but Hypolite was granted an immunity in return for his testimony. Although Hypolite said he was there when Sumairsingh was killed, he was not the triggerman. Investigators revealed that the triggerman was killed, but there are also theories that the triggerman is alive and well and his name was never mentioned. Singh was eventually acquitted by the jury. There are several other cases, some in recent times, where accomplices have been used, granted immunities from prosecution, against accused persons. But are these accomplices principals in the crimes? It happened in the Diego Martin case and that is why the evidence was rejected leading to the acquittal of the three accused.

So it is back to the Naraynsingh case. Shaun Parris, by his own admission, disappeared from the scene two weeks after the June 30, 1994 killing. He went to the United States before by his own stupidity, he was caught with drugs and arrested. It was only then that the US authorities realised that he was wanted in Trinidad for murder. By the time Parris was extradited to Trinidad in 2000, his partners in crime, Morris and Pierre, had met their brutal deaths. Parris faced a trial which really was based on his confessional statement which he had given to the police in 2000. Was there any corroboration to what he was saying? Very little if any. If the murder trial had proceeded, his attorney Keith Scotland would have certainly challenged the confession. If Scotland’s submissions were powerful, Justice Herbert Volney may have excluded the statement. What would have been the prosecution’s position? The prosecutor may have had to throw in the towel and a murderer, a hitman, would have gone free, maybe to kill again.... to accept more jobs. The DPP in his wisdom discontinued the murder indictment (as he is entitled to do under Section 90 of the Constitution) and re-indicted Parris on the lesser count of manslaughter. Parris took the bait and pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday, with a condition that he is not to be released before the expiration of 30 years. Parris began his sentence in prison, maybe with the secret and the reason why someone wanted Chandra dead.