Relatives of a businessman from St Helena, who was shot and killed along with his friend on Sunday, have denied that his death was the result of a failed attempt by a gang to extort money from him.
The possible motive for the double murder was suggested on social media crime pages after 44-year-old Rishi Joseph and his 54-year-old friend, Khadarnath Ramsaran, were murdered by two men disguised as police officers outside Joseph’s home at Caroni South Bank Road in St Helena.
When a news team from Guardian Media visited Joseph’s home yesterday afternoon, a close male relative dismissed the claim that he was targeted by a gang suspected of extorting business owners in Piarco and St Helena.
“We do not know anything about that. It could not be that it happened and he was ashamed, but he would always tell us everything, good or bad,” the relative said.
He said Joseph owned a few apartments connected to his home and also bought and sold used vehicles.
“He did just enough to live and take care of his family. It was one car at a time he was flipping, not a whole lot,” he said.
“I have a feeling that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and that an innocent man died. An innocent man who does nothing but be there for his family,” he added.
Joseph’s relative suggested that Ramsaran was the gunmen’s intended target, based on the fact that he was shot 16 times while Joseph only sustained one gunshot wound.
“You could do the maths there and see what is what,” he said.
“He (Joseph) was already outside the vehicle. If it was really for him, they would have got him without having to get out of their car,” he added.
He said Ramsaran lived in Rio Claro and would park in Joseph’s garage when he went abroad.
Ramsaran was the managing director of Worldwide Inspection Technologies and Industrial Services.
The relative said shortly before the shooting, Joseph had picked up Ramsaran at the Piarco International Airport in Ramsaran’s black Toyota Prado after he (Ramsaran) returned from a business trip to Guyana.
Joseph was talking to Ramsaran after being dropped home when they were attacked by the gunmen, who were armed with assault rifles.
Joseph’s relative described him as a hard-working and humble man who was focused on his family.
“He liked to fish. That is the only thing that used to get him out of the house. Other than that he was home,” he said.
He said the father of three loved animals, as he owned several parrots and dogs, with his favourite breed being the Siberian Husky.
In a brief telephone interview, Ramsaran’s common-law wife Netu Singh-Jalim confirmed that he left Trinidad to go to Guyana on Thursday and returned shortly before he and Joseph were killed.
She said Ramsaran went to Guyana as he was in the process of expanding his business to that country due to its fledgling energy industry.
Singh-Jalim could not, however, offer a reason as to why Ramsaran would have been targeted.
“I don’t know what to say. He was a real genuine person and I do not know who would want to do this,” she said.
“Like these criminals really do not have a heart and do not care about people and their families,” she added.
Contacted by Guardian Media shortly after the businessmen were murdered, Caroni East MP Dr Rishad Seecheran lamented about the country’s crime situation and the Government’s response to it.
“The murders continue along the Caroni South Bank Road, with no assistance from the Minister of National Security,” Seecheran said.
“Calls for CCTV cameras, a police post, and increased police patrols have gone unheeded. We are a country under siege,” he added.
Investigations are continuing.
