A jury was told yesterday that kidnapped businesswoman Samdaye Rampersad died of asphyxia and suffocation after she was buried alive. This was revealed by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Kathy-Ann Waterman-Latchoo, yesterday at the opening of the trial in the Port-of-Spain Second Assizes Court against five men charged with being involved in Rampersad's death. The accused are Phillip "The Boss" Boodram, of Dow Village, California; Roger Mootoo, of Springvale Village, Claxton Bay; Ricky Singh, of Cedar Hill Road, Claxton Bay; Kervin Williams and Aaron "Arc Eye" Grappie, both of Pranz Gardens, Claxton Bay.
Waterman-Latchoo said the prosecution would show that Rampersad suffered from a broken neck at the hands of Boodram before her death. In the matter before Justice Malcolm Holdip and a 12-member jury, the men are charged with the kidnapping and murder of Rampersad. She was abducted outside her variety store, Petit Bourg, San Juan, on November 25, 2005, by masked gunmen. Her body was found 41 days later in a shallow grave in a cashew field in Carolina Village, Claxton Bay.
Waterman-Latchoo claimed after Rampersad was kidnapped, a message was sent to Boodram, saying: "The bread is in the oven," which, she said, was code for the kidnapping was a success. Waterman-Latchoo told the court that Rampersad's brother, Mervyn, was contacted several times after his sister's kidnapping by a man who demanded a $2 million ransom for her safe release, although she was already dead. Waterman-Latchoo said during the trial it would be proven that it was Boodram who ordered the kidnapping, with the four other accused executing the act.
"During a meeting in Claxton Bay days earlier, Boodram told the men a man called Rampersad from San Juan owed him $700,000 and did not want to repay him the money," Waterman-Latchoo said. She said before her death in the cashew field Rampersad was repeatedly questioned about why her son did not pay Boodram the $700,000, although she did not have any children. Waterman-Latchoo explained that it also would be shown that Boodram provided the guns used in the kidnapping. Waterman-Latchoo explained that the State's main witness in the trial was Nigel "Cat" Rodrick, a man with a checkered past.
"In this matter you (the jury) are asked to consider whether Rodrick is the best person to tell us who was involved in Rampersad's death," Waterman-Latchoo said.
She revealed that Rodrick gave a confession which implicated the accused in the matter while in police custody for his alleged involvement in another murder that year. Rodrick allegedly was present at the meeting in which the kidnapping was planned and at Rampersad's eventual death. The men are being represented by a legal team which includes attorney's Evans Welch, Wayne Sturge and Criston J Williams. Before Waterman-Latchoo gave her opening address to the jury yesterday, Holdip warned the jurors not to be influenced by media reports on the case and to refrain from doing their own investigations into the matter. The matter is expected to continue today.
