By Vashtee Achibar Saturday, February 23 2013

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In mourning: Dennis Ramjattan and his wife Rasheeda at the home of his mother Carmen Ramjattan in Phillipine yesterday. Ramjattan (INSET) was murdered...

A 42-year-old man is now in police custody in connection with the murder of 70-year-old Carmen Ramjattan after he was caught in Debe driving her stolen Nissan Almera car.

Ramjattan was found hog-tied in the bathroom of her home at Sunkist Drive, Phillipine late Wednesday night.

Her gates were left open and her car was missing.

Police yesterday said the suspect, from Rambert Village, La Romaine, was intercepted driving Ramjattan’s car on Thursday evening.

Reports indicate that a neighbour saw the car leaving Ramjattan’s garage on Wednesday afternoon, and thought it strange that the electronic gate was left open.

Hours later she and neighbours would receive the shocking news, that Ramjattan had been killed. It was first believed that she strangled on the rope used to tie her up. However, an autopsy revealed she was beaten to death, succumbing to blows to her head, bleeding and her spine was broken.

Ramjattan’s son Dennis alerted police on Wednesday night when she did not return any of his calls to her cell and land-line phones.

Yesterday, investigators believe the killer used a discarded headboard to climb up to her patio and enter through a steel door that was unlocked. The house is burglar-proofed except at the back patio.

Ramjattan had returned from prayer services at Faith Centre on Prince of Wales Street, San Fernando at about mid-day on Wednesday and was watching television and shelling pigeon peas. Investigators believe she was killed between 12 pm and 3 pm.

There was a steady stream of relatives, friends and neighbours at Ramjattan’s home where they stopped by to share their condolences to her sons, Dennis and Dexter. Dexter flew in from Canada yesterday morning after being told of his mother’s killing.

Dexter said his mother was very active and even when she visited him in Canada she would always paint or fix something. He said after his father died of a heart attack a few years ago, his mother often visited him abroad or stayed at Dennis’ home in Diego Martin.

“Imagine I was supposed to come home for my birthday on February 4, I had told my mother I would come and spend my birthday with her, but then I couldn’t, then Valentine’s day came up and I thought I would come but that too fell through and now look at what I have to come home to. I loved my mother, she was a beautiful person. I don’t know how I will face life without her,” Dexter said shaking his head sadly.

Dennis contacted police when he could not reach his mother. He went to the house, after neighbours reported seeing the gate to her home open. He checked hospitals, when he found traces of blood at the house, but, when she could not be found, he called the police. Officers searched the house and one of them had to stand on a chair because her bathroom door was locked. She was inside, dead.

John Mark Chankersingh, a counsellor at Faith Centre which Ramjattan attended, described her as totally dedicated to her faith and to the church. He said he knew her very well and was saddened at her brutal death. He said she was jovial and full of life and that her death brings the crime in the country closer to home. Funeral arrangements are still being finalsed.