The murder of a doctor

CHANDRA NARAYNSINGH knew that someone wanted her dead and that she was going to be killed. One of the last persons to talk to Chandra on the day she was killed was attorney Odai Ramischand. In an interview at his Port-of-Spain offices on Friday, Ramischand made it quite clear — “I know who killed Chandra, but I don’t have the evidence to prove it at this stage. What I know is what Chandra told me, what I experienced personally when I had to drop her off at her home. “I have no doubt who is the mastermind who devised the plan to execute her. I know the purpose and the motive,” Ramischand told Sunday Newsday.

Chandra, 38, was shot dead on June 29, 1994 as she left her place of employment, the Langmore Health Foundation at Palmyra Village, San Fernando. Shawn Parris confessed to killing Chandra and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Chandra had several lawyers — Leslie Ann Lucky-Samaroo, Suren Capildeo, Vernon De Lima, and Ramischand — and was in the process of pursuing divorce proceedings against her husband Dr Vijay Naraynsingh, when she was killed. How did Ramischand meet Chandra? Ramischand said Chandra approached him in June 1993. “She was dealing with other attorneys, she wanted me to assist them. I told her to let those attorneys continue with her matter and if it cannot be resolved, then I would intervene,” he said.

Ramischand described Chandra as an “angel, an extraordinary human being, who seemed to have divine guidance at all times.” He said some time in December 1993, he wrote a letter to another attorney. For two months, he did not see nor hear from Chandra. In February 1994, she resurfaced. “I inquired where she was. I saw a completely different person, fearful and nervous, reacting with great anxiety and distress,” Ramischand said. Ramischand said it was some time in February 1994 that Chandra mentioned that her life was threatened. She spoke to him about problems she was having. “At first, she felt that once she prayed to her God and do what she had to do, she felt hostility and acrimony would be phased out and she would have been left to live her life,” Ramischand said.

Because of what he was told, Ramischand said he advised Chandra to get a firearm licence. But it never got that far. “When I asked her if the police contacted her for the interview, she said no. I suggested that she go to the St Joseph Police Station to speak with the officer in charge. But she never did,” he said. Ramischand remembered one day when Chandra came to his office in Port-of-Spain to see him. She was brought there by businessman Jirjordan Mahabir who explained that he was providing private accommodation for Chandra during her time of fear. Ramischand offered to take her home that night because they lived near to each other in Maracas, St Joseph. “That day, she was very philosophical and related her experiences in India, dealing with the Gurus, meditating and doing yoga. To me, Chandra was a different person, preparing herself to make peace with God and to meet her maker,” Ramischand said.

The attorney continued, “That was a complete transformation from the affable, lively and confident doctor. It seemed she had resigned herself, just going through the motions and giving up on her ambitions. It was one of the most remarkable transformations. She was no longer interested in pursuing certain things. She seemed uncertain, she relied heavily on me to guide her and tell her what to do. She seemed very scared to come back to meet with me at my office.” Ramischand said he met Chandra on several occasions at his office. He remembered dropping her home on numerous occasions, only to see a car with several men parked nearby. “At least ten times, I took her to where she was hiding or to my home where I would call the St Joseph Police who never had vehicles to respond,” he said.

Ramischand said there was one occasion when they saw men inside Chandra’s home. Again, they reported it to the police who never responded. Ramischand said June 29, 1994, the day Chandra was killed, is a day he will always remember. Chandra called him at about 8 am insisting that they meet before he went to court. Ramischand said he could not see her before court. But she insisted. “She said she had very important information for me, that her life was in serious danger, that she was in touch with her family in Canada and she was thinking of packing up and migrating to Canada. I told her if that was her decision, she was the one to make that call. Chandra was concerned about the welfare of her daughter Anamika. She wanted to make sure that provisions be put in place for her welfare. She wanted to know that her daughter’s education will be put in place.

“I told her if they were going to Canada, her daughter’s education was secured. She said that was one of the things she wanted to discuss with me. I told her that with her family in Canada, they would have been able to look after her daughter. I told her not to waste time, go ahead and make the preparations,” he said. Ramischand continued, “that was the first time Chandra got annoyed with me. She said, ‘Mr Ramischand, you do not understand, I need to see you and I need to see you urgently.’

She seemed to be sobbing and then she hung up the phone.” Sometime later, Chandra’s brother, mother and another relative called from Canada. Jirjordan Mahabir also called, saying that Chandra needed to speak with Ramischand. Realising that the woman was frantic, Ramischand said he asked some of his staff to remain in the office to accommodate Chandra. “Chandra called around 1.30 pm. She was seeing her last patient. She wanted to see me so I cancelled some appointments to accommodate her. Around 5.30 pm, Chandra had not arrived at my Port-of-Spain office so my staff left. It was just after seven o’clock in the night when one of the senior members of the staff called in a panic.

“I couldn’t understand what she was saying, she kept saying they killed Dr Chandra Naraynsingh, it was now in the news. I told her to calm down and I asked her what she saw in the news. She said Dr Chandra Naraynsingh got killed outside her office. She said Chandra was going to her car when she was shot. It was then that my employee told me that when she came to work around 7.30 that morning, a blue car was parked outside of my office with five men in it,” he said. Ramischand continued, “She said when she went to lunch, she saw the five men watching my office and one of them had something like a gun. I dropped the phone and ran to the front door and ensured it was locked. I started to call everyone who knew Chandra. Everyone was screaming and panicking.”

Ramischand said he felt distraught at that moment. He could not work. He did not attend Chandra’s funeral because he suspected there would have been hostility towards him. He parked his car about 100 feet from the house of mourning and watched. “Tears flowed from my eyes, I could not take any more and I drove away,” Ramischand added. “I still think about Chandra to this day. She was a remarkable woman. Looking at her, you saw divinity and godliness, something I have never experienced from anyone else in my life.” He said Chandra left a safety deposit box at the Trincity branch of Republic Bank just before she was killed. The box contained a tape, expensive jewelry and US and Canadian dollars. “Only three persons knew of that box, I was one of them. I know she left the contents of that box for her daughter if anything had happened to her. She told me she made a tape and was leaving it in that box.”

Ramischand believes that once the State uses its resources, the perpetrators of this killing can be brought to justice. He said days after Chandra’s killing, the police came to him. “I gave them certain information and I answered their questions, but they never took a statement from me,” he said. Ramischand said the day Chandra was killed was one of the saddest days of his life, a day which he swears he will never forget. He added, “But that motivates me in my pursuit of justice.” Dr Vijay Naraynsingh, his third wife Seeromani and businessman Elton Ramasir were charged with Chandra’s murder, but they were all acquitted.