Debe cousins bound by barbed wire, burnt in car

The wails of two grieving mothers filled the air at Seuradge Trace, Debe, as they tried to come to terms with their death of their sons, cousins Dale and Jerome Ramsahai, who were found burnt beyond recognition in Arima yesterday. “They could have taken everything and go, what they kill my child for?” Savitri Ramsahai and her sister-in-law Cathy Ramsahai asked inside the house of mourning, as relatives and neighbours gathered to express shock and horror while lending support.

The remains of Dale, 28, and Jerome, 27, were discovered in the trunk of a Nissan Tiida at the Heights of Guanapo yesterday morning, following an anonymous call to both the Arima police and fire stations. The murder toll now stands at 82. According to reports, around 1.30 am, Arima police received a report that car was burning on a lonely road at the Heights of Guanapo in Arima.

Police led by Insp Wayne Baptiste responded along with fire officers. When they arrived, the car, which was packed with and surrounded by used tyres, was engulfed in flames. The fire officers extinguished the blaze and while examining the car the officers opened the trunk, where they found the remains of two people. Investigators said the bodies were bound together by barbed wire. 

Cousins found burnt in car trunk

Dale was an IT co-ordinator for the T&T Coalition of Services and Jerome, a loans officer with Scotiabank, Port-of-Spain. Police are working on a theory that the death of the men, who left to go to a gym, may have been a hit and are exploring a political link. One of Jerome’s sisters is attorney Liana Ramsahai, deputy chairman of the state-owned Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG), who was among candidates screened to contest the Oropouche West Seat in 2010. 

A newspaper reported in July 2010 that Ramsahai told police she was approached by a man while walking along St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain. She said the man gave her a threatening message for Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Ramsahai was quoted as telling the police the man told her, “Tell de Prime Minister, yuh family, the day she auction and sell we property, we go finish what we start in 1990 and we go surprise she.”

At the family homes yesterday, sisters of the two men denied any political link. Alicia Jugmohan, Jerome’s sister, said even though her elder sister had been threatened the family had no reason to live in fear. Dale’s sister Kelly-Ann said: “That happened a long time ago, I don’t think so. Those boys lived for Jesus and those criminals would have to pay. Maybe not here, but they would get their judgment in heaven.”

Kelly-Ann said her brother and cousin were decent, innocent young men who had a bright future ahead of them. “They did nothing wrong, were never in any gang or involved in drugs. They grew up together and did everything together.” She said Dale, a graduate of the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, with a master’s degree in IT, and Jerome, who was also pursuing his degree in business, shared an apartment in Port-of-Spain as they were both working in the capital city.

Senior Supt David Abraham, Supt Baldeo Nanan and Insp Eric Parks are probing the double murder.