By Ralph Banwarie Saturday, September 20 2008

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Wife slain: Prisons officer Varindra Lackraj, third from right, with relatives outside his home on St Louis Road, Sangre Grande where his wife Paula L...

Broken vases and a ransacked house were testimony to the fight that registered nurse Paula Lackraj put up before she was shot dead by gunmen at her home in Sangre Grande yesterday.

Her husband, prisons officer Varindra Lackraj, discovered his 37-year-old wife lying face down, hog-tied, with a bullet wound to the back of her head.

Lackraj told investigators that he and his family had received threats to their lives recently. A source within the Prisons Officers Association yesterday confirmed Lackraj had received the threats.

Lackraj reportedly walked into his home on St Louis Road, Sangre Grande, at about 5.45 am yesterday, when he made the gruesome discovery. The lock to the front gate had been cut.

Paula Lackraj, a registered nurse employed at the Sangre Grande District Hospital, was clad in only her underwear.

Lackraj reportedly told investigators he last saw his wife on Tuesday before he left for work at the Port-of-Spain State Prison on Frederick Street.

He also told detectives he overnighted at a friend’s home in Arima on Wednesday and returned home yesterday when he found his slain wife.

Investigators believe she had been tied up with a telephone cord and then shot once through the back or her head, execution style, sometime between late Wednesday night and early yesterday morning.

The police were summoned and a team of investigators including Asp Raymond Hunt, Insp Neville Sankar, WPC Sgt Yvonne Alexander responded to the scene. They were later joined by Insp Stanley Ramdeen and other officers of the Homicide Bureau.

District Medical Officer Dr Babu Ready viewed the body and ordered its removal to the Forensic Science Centre, Federation Park, St James.

A close neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, said she last saw the victim using her computer on Wednesday evening. She described Paula Lackraj as a “nice, pleasant lady”.

At the scene yesterday, ringing a bell, was Hariah Lackraj, Paula Lackraj’s mother, who shouted prayers and vowed that the killers would be found.

“Whoever do it have to come on their knees begging and surrender to the police,” Hariah Lackraj said. She was also joined by another Spiritual Baptist follower who echoed the sentiments.

Interviewed yesterday, CEO of the Eastern Regional Health Authority Ronald Tsoi-a-Fatt said Paula Lackraj was a “pleasant” and very “dedicated” worker. He said he was saddened on hearing the news and her co-workers were also traumatised. He said Paula Lackraj was training as a specialist to deal with dialysis machines which are to be implemented in hospitals across the nation. Commissioner of Prisons John Rougier could not be reached for comment up to late yesterday.

Paula Lackraj’s relatives refused to comment. A male relative and a woman were said to be assisting investigators up to late yesterday.