3 HELD

The autopsies, done by Forensic Pathologist Dr Alexei Alexandrov revealed that Kasinath “Tommy” Ramsaran, 31, was strangled while his brother Ravi Ramsaran, 26, died from shock and haemorrhage consistent with multiple chop wounds about his head and neck and Pream Squires, 52, who was described by relatives as an excellent swimmer, died as a result of drowning.

And while relatives of the three men gathered outside the Centre awaiting the results of the autopsies yesterday, police were interviewing three men whom they arrested on Sunday night following raids on houses in the Sea Lots area. In addition to the arrests, the police also recovered items later identified as belonging to the fishermen.

At the Centre yesterday, Rupandai Ramsaran, mother of the two brothers, held her stomach and wept as she viewed and positively identified her sons’ decomposing bodies. In an interview later with Newsday, Ramsaran cried out: “I don’t want any jail for the killers. I want them hanged! My sons were loving persons who cared for their families. To the killer, I ask, ‘who are you to take them away from us?’.”

Kathy Borris, Ravi’s wife described her husband as a wonderful person who cared deeply for his family.

She echoed the view of her mother-in-law that the killers should be brought to justice in the shortest possible time. Squires’ relatives said the 52-year-old father of two was an excellent swimmer who loved the sea.

They said he did odd jobs to make ends meet and they never knew that when he left home last Tuesday to go on the fishing expedition, it would be the last time they would see him alive.

They too called for swift justice in the murders.

The three left the La Khankarria fishing site at Felicity last week Tuesday at about 3 am to go fishing in the Gulf of Paria. When they failed to return the next day, Neisha Martinez, Kasinath’s wife reported the men missing to the police. Although several searches were carried out by the coastguard, as well as other fishermen, the men were not found.

Last Friday, at about 8.30 am, Coastguard officers received an anonymous call from a fisherman heading out into the Gulf of Paria who reported that two bodies were seen floating two miles off land at National Fisheries in Sea Lots.

Late Friday evening the three bodies were recovered, with the brothers found floating in the sea near the heliport in Chaguaramas while Squires’ body was recovered approximately two miles south of the National Fisheries.

Forty-eight hours later, on Sunday at 7 pm, officers from the Port-of-Spain CID, Port-of-Spain Division and the Inter Agency Task Force led by Insp Sahadeo Singh received key information that the stolen items belonging to the fishermen were at a house at Pioneer Drive in Sea Lots.

The officers armed with a search warrant surrounded the house and carried out a search during which they recovered two Yamaha boat engines, a battery and two gas containers.

Officers raided other houses at Pioneer Drive hoping to find the fishing nets belonging to the murdered fishermen and other belongings such as cellular phones and personal effects but they were unsuccessful in doing so.

The suspects, who are aged 47, 25 and 18 were handed over to officers of the Region One, Homicide Bureau and up until yesterday, were being questioned in connection with the murder of the fishermen.

Investigators said, they are continuing their probe of the murders with a view to completing the case file to be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for final instructions regarding the laying of criminal charges.