Point Fortin poultry depot proprietor Richie Sammy feared that he would not live to see the New Year.
His fears came to pass when he was shot in the neck at point-blank range on Thursday night. Police said Sammy's killer was waiting for him when he arrived at his Erin Road, Cap- de-Ville, home in his white AD wagon shortly before 7 pm. As he was driving into his garage, he was shot once in the neck. Police said his wagon crashed through the garage wall and slammed into a kennel.
Sammy's common-law wife Catherine Joseph, who was home with their three children-ages four, seven and nine-ran out to find him slumped over the steering wheel. She called out to his older brother, Rajkumar, who lives in a house in front of theirs, and he rushed 30-year-old Sammy to the Point Fortin Area Hospital. However, he was pronounced dead on arrival. Robbery has been ruled out as a motive, but investigators are working on several leads. Yesterday Joseph, who was at the poultry shop, was too distraught to speak with the media. Struggling to come to terms with the death, Sammy's sister, Susan, said just six months ago their father Isaac passed away.
She admitted that her siblings were not getting along and said she believed someone Sammy knew might have ordered a hit on him. She said Sammy was entangled in family dispute and was also falsely accused of murdering the son of another Point Fortin poultry depot owner last year. She said Sammy had received several death threats. On Boxing Day, Sammy confided in his close friend Alywn Seales that he knew that he would be murdered soon."He say 'King I dead you know, people sending people to kill me. Tell my kids what kind of person I is and look out for them," Seales said.
Seales said he told him stop calling death on himself but Sammy was convinced he was marked for death. If he had lived, however, he had planned to usher in the new year in church, a relative said. Susan cried: "I'm in shock. I feel like it is a nightmare. They did not have to kill him. He loved his kids, he lived for them. Our family always at war, they always bickering over money and material things." She said her father had signed over the house and land to Sammy's youngest child Shawn, four. Acting ASP Rajkumar and Sgt Jones from the South Western Division were among several officers who visited the scene. Police held a close relative for questioning but released him yesterday morning. Investigations are continuing.