Cops: Killings were mafia-style hit

IN WHAT has been described by police as a mafia-styled ‘hit’, two men reputed to be notorious drug-dealers were found shot to death in a house off Acono Road, Maracas/ St Joseph on Wednesday night.

While police said Dexter “Neckie” Mahase, 26, and Kerwin Romain, 29, had been involved in crime for many years, their weeping relatives claimed otherwise. “Oh God no, no, no...this can’t be happening. That is my son lying in there dead, they kill him,” cried Dexter’s mother,  Jankie Mahase, who was comforted by her other son Anthony. Nearby were Romain’s siblings who stood in a group crying. Police retrieved 21 spent shells and seven ammunition fragments at the scene. Mahase, who celebrated his birthday on March 6, was shot seven times about his leg, chest and stomach. His body was found lying on the living-room floor near the front door. Romain, who was found with his hands tied behind his back with a bedsheet and lying behind a couch, was shot ten times in the head, chest and stomach.

According to police reports, Mahase telephoned Romain on Wednesday evening and asked him to come to his home on Acono Road to “check out something”. Romain, who was deported from the United States and had been hiding out in Venezuela for some time, left his Brazil Village home accompanied by his girlfriend. On reaching Mahase’s home, Romain alighted from his B13 Sentra and told his companion to wait in the car. Minutes later, residents reported hearing loud explosions coming from inside the house. Two men later ran out of the house, ordered Romain’s girlfriend out of the car and sped off in it. Romain’s companion and villagers went into the house where they discovered the bodies. Officers led by Snr Supt Rodvan Bastien and including Insps Peter Grant and Michael Modeste, Sgt Hendron Moses (Homicide Bureau), Sgt Don Lezama, Cpl Aldwin Collins, Cpl Smith and PCs Nirmal Ramjattan, Nafeez Mohammed and Dedeire visited the scene.

DMO Dr Emmanuel Hosein ordered the bodies removed to the Port-of-Spain mortuary. Autopsies were scheduled to be done yesterday at the Forensic Sciences Centre. Police are working on the theory that the killers stormed into Mahase’s home and opened fire. Up to late yesterday no arrests had been made and Sgt Don Lezama of St Joseph CID is continuing investigations. These two murders, plus another at the Caroni cremation site in which a man was strangled on Wednesday night, have pushed the murder rate for the year to 47.