Man hacked to death

AN UNPAID debt is believed to be the motive behind the brutal murder of a 38-year-old Gaspa-rillo bottle-recycling contractor, who police say was ambushed and hacked to death at the back of his home, sometime between Tuesday night and yesterday morning. The bloodstained body of Soodesh Sawh, a bottle supplier to Carib Brewery, was discovered by relatives around 6 am yesterday at his Light Bourne Road, Bonne Aventure, Gasparillo home.  The body bore multiple deep chops to the head and face. Also seriously wounded in the attack was Sawh’s employee, Ansari Karim, 49, a father of two, of  Morne Wash, Gasparillo, who was beaten on his head with glass bottles and planassed about the body until he slipped into unconsciousness. Believing Karim to be dead, the killers fled the scene.

When he regained consciousness, the bloody, injured man made his way next door to Sawh’s sister’s house where he called out for help and then collapsed. Karim was rushed to the San Fernando General Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery and is now warded in a serious condition under police guard. Police sources told Newsday they believed the killing was the fatal sequel to an altercation Sawh had with three men on Tuesday, who accused him of owing them a sum of money after a business transaction went sour. Sawh was beaten by the men who threatened to kill him if he did not come up with the money. Later that day, he went to the bank and withdrew between $5,000 to $10,000. Investigators also believe Sawh threw the bag of money in the bushes when he was accosted by the men yesterday.

Investigators believe Sawh’s killers knew what time he usually left home to go to work and waited in ambush for him to come out of the house. Sawh’s common-law wife Margaret Mohammed was not home at the time of the killing. When Newsday visited the scene yesterday, Sawh’s sister Savitri Bholaramsingh, who lives next door to her brother, said a bleeding Karim came to her home and said Sawh had been chopped and needed help. Bholaramsingh said she alerted other relatives and went to the back of the house where they found an unconscious Sawh lying on his back with gaping wounds in the middle of his head, behind the neck and on his face. There was blood everywhere. Bholaramsingh said she believed her brother had put up a struggle because there was mud splashed all over his body. She said she had no knowledge of her brother owing money to anyone or that he had had an altercation with a group of men on Tuesday.

Describing Sawh as a hard worker and friendly person, Bholaramsingh said, “His death was brutal...real brutal.” She also called on police to provide 24-hour protection for Karim since he had witnessed the murder. Karim’s relatives, including his mother Hazrah, were told of the incident by reporters who went to her home. “My son is a friendly boy and I do not know who do this to him,” the worried woman said. Visiting the scene of the murder yesterday was a party of officers led by Southern Division Head, Snr Supt Desmond Lambert and including Insp Brereton, Sgt Santana and Cpl Parson. Up to late yesterday efforts were being made to have an autopsy carried out on Sawh’s body at the Forensic Sciences Centre, Federation Park, St James. Also up to late yesterday, no arrests had been made and Cpl Parson is continuing investigations.