‘They kill my boy’

His body already decomposing, crime scene investigators could not immediately determine if there were marks of violence but Anil’s death is being treated as a murder.

“He did not deserve this, my son did not deserve to die like this,” wept the the 49-year-old mother of nine.

Devika and her husband Sham, 54, found their son’s body at about 7 am yesterday in an area overgrown with bush not too far from his home in the village of Pranz Gardens. Reports indicate patches of hair were found near his body and relatives were able to identify the body as Anil’s because the right hand had no fingers, all five were severed due to an accident in 2006.

Anil, a crab-catcher, was last seen in the village of Pranz Gardens, Claxton Bay shortly after 8 pm on November 27. He had on a grey jeans and a black and blue stripe T-shirt. Last Tuesday, relatives reported him missing to the Couva Police Station.

Villagers lined the road as crime scene investigators removed Anil’s body.

Devika said Anil, also nicknamed “Punko”, was threatened by a group of men before he went missing. “He was frightened for his life and I saw it in his eyes every day. I just knew that someone was out to kill my baby, but I did not know who and I did not know for what,” Devika recalled.

The tearful mother said she tried many times to find out from her son “who was after him but he never told me who wanted to kill him.” Over a week ago several men armed with cutlasses arrived at the family’s home asking for Anil.

“They reached the gate and tried to get into the house, but I stopped them and allowed my son to hide under the bed. They said they wanted him dead,” she said. Devika said she did not sleep since her son’s disappearance.

“Every day I would go in the areas where he usually catches crab and look for him. This morning (yesterday) I woke up early after 6 am and I kept getting this feeling that my son was nearby, so I went with my husband in the bushes and there he was,” she said. “All I saw was his head to the top of the latrine and his slippers nearby. There was also patches of hair near to the latrine as if they shaved off his hair.

Who would do this?” Devika now fears the men would attack her family.

Sunday Newsday learnt that one day before his disappearance, Anil had an altercation with a resident in the village which some say may be linked to his death. An autopsy is expected to be performed at the Forensic Science Centre, St James yesterday while the Homicide Investigations Bureau Region III probes the murder.