Several years ago Satnarine Rampersad got a licensed firearm for protection after his businessplace was robbed many times.
As fate would have it, Rampersad, 57, fondly called Teddy, did not even get a chance to use the firearm to defend himself when five intruders broke into his home at Union Hall, San Fernando, around 4 am.
Police believe he was shot in the jaw while he slept on his bed. While he was bleeding to death, the intruders went to the downstairs apartment where they tied up and robbed his tenants, two female Chinese nationals, police said. They were robbed of TT $10,000, US$2,000 and their cellphones.
Nothing was taken from Rampersad, leaving his relatives and friends baffled as to why he was murdered.
Police found his firearm safely secured at his home. Rampersad, a warehouse supervisor and driver, lived alone upstairs his Housing Development Corporation home at Titanium Crescent.
He had no wife or children. Police said the Chinese sisters, ages 43 and 46, were operating a small massage business at the apartment.
According to a police report, they were awaken by the intruders who wore dark clothing and masks. One of the sisters managed to free herself and then her sister. They went upstairs where they found Rampersad’s body on his blood-stained bed.
Described as a decent, honest, friendly, jovial and hard-working person, Satnarine’s brother Capildeo Rampersad, 61, said his brother “was good with everybody.”
He recalled that several years ago his brother operated a supermarket in Debe which was robbed three or four times. Rampersad, he said, got a licensed firearm for protection but to his knowledge he never had cause to use it.
“He never threaten nobody with the gun as far as I know. Hardly anybody even knew he had a firearm,” he said.
Speaking at Rampersad’s home where several friends and relatives had gathered, he said everyone was in a state of shock.
A devout Hindu, Rampersad attended worship at a temple in Debe three times a week and was also a yoga teacher.
Capildeo said, “This is strange. The temple money was still there (upstairs Rampersad’s home). They took nothing from him. The house was not ransacked.”
Ramnath was confident, however, that the police would capture the perpetrators who took his brother’s life.
The family had not yet broken the news to Rampersad’s 80-year-old mother who already lost her husband and two other sons.
Rampersad’s employer described him as a hard-working and honest person who did not deserve to die in that way. He said Rampersad worked late on Wednesday night.
Rampersad was also the driver of Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan when the People’s Partnership was in government.
Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal said Rampersad was a loyal UNC supporter, a kind and loving person to all and a true friend.
Noting that Rampersad also contributed to several religious causes, he said, “Violent crime is more than present in our once peaceful community. I only hope that the police will find the heinous elements that did this dastardly act.”
There were no arrests up to late yesterday.