Cousins’ bodies in car trunkBy CECILY ASSON Saturday, March 2 2013
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UNIMAGINABLE GRIEF: Liana Ramsahai, Deputy Chairman of state-owned Carribean New Media Group (CNMG) weeps uncontrollably at the Forensic Science Centr...
THE brutal murders of cousins Jerome Ramsahai, 27, and Dale Ramsahai, 28, have left two close-knit families along with an entire Debe community, traumatised and seeking answers.
Jerome’s sister Liana Ramsahai, an attorney and Deputy Chairman of state-owned Carribean New Media Group(CNMG), and also a cousin to Dale, was inconsolable as she was hugged by her friend Priya Ramnarine, wife of Energy Minister Kelvin Ramnarine, at the Forensic Science Centre in St James yesterday.
Shock and grief were the dominant emotions yesterday at the homes of the two cousins where relatives and friends gathered to try to console each other. Jerome, a Loans Officer at Scotia Bank and Dale, an Information Technology Co-ordinator at TT Coalition Services Industry, shared a close familial relationship and were also next door neighbours.
A police report stated that at about 12.15 am yesterday, Arima police and fire officers responded to a report of a car on fire at 3 and 3/4 mile mark, Heights of Guanapo in Arima. Police said after firemen extinguished the blaze, they opened the trunk to find the burnt bodies of the two cousins, whose hands were secured with barbed wire inside.
Police believe both men were first shot dead, tied and placed in the trunk of a Nissan Tiida car which was then set on fire. Dale, Newsday was told, graduated two years ago with his Masters Degree in Information Technology from the University of the West Indies. Jerome was also enrolled in a Masters programme at School of Business, and Computer Sciences (SBCS).
Relatives said the family are staunch members of the Roman Catholic faith and only recently went on a retreat to Ohio, USA where they visited a shrine said to be the place where there was an apparition of the Virgin Mary. Jerome made the trip.
“He always wanted to go there,” his sister Alicia Jugmohan, told Newsday. She said Jerome was always in church. “Only last night (Thursday) Mummy called and left a message on his phone reminding him to go to church this morning (yesterday) and pray the Rosary as he always does every first Friday in the month.” She said he sometimes attended Sacred Heart RC Church, Port-of-Spain.
Because of their jobs both being in the capital, the cousins took the decision to rent an apartment at Park Street in Port-of-Spain to make their commute easier. The cousins were last seen alive at 8.20 pm on Thursday liming at 51 Degrees club on Cipriani Boulevard, Port-of-Spain.
Sometime during the night relatives said they communicated with the cousins who said that all was well. The cousins’ families were speechless on being informed during the early morning hours yesterday that the cousins were found dead.
During the interview yesterday, loud screams could be heard from inside Dale’s home. Dale’s mother Savitri, 51, along with other relatives screamed and wept. Dale’s sister Kelly Ann said her brother shared a very close relationship with their parents Dave and Savitri Ramsahai.
“He was the love of mummy’s life. He would always tell her how much he loved her and she would squeeze his head. Dale was such a loving and pleasant person. Always laughing. As a matter of fact Dale and Jerome were the same.”
“I don’t understand it, the barb wire, the burning. I don’t know what we could do now. People are acting like animals in this country, no one seems to care. Last night my mom was praying to keep them safe. She opened her Bible and she went to a particular reading. Her prayers were unanswered,” Kelly Ann said. Jerome is one of six children for Bhimul and Catherine Ramsahai.
Dale is one of four children of Dave and Savitri Ramsahai. Investigations are continuing.
