Wazir Mohammed lived in fear that someone would attack his family and it was the reason why he kept them secluded inside their property surrounded by a 12-foot galvanise fencing.
One of the few friends Mohammed had told Guardian Media on Friday that even when KFC delivered meals to the house along Clarke Road, Penal, the driver would have to pass the food through a hole in the fence.
Because of this lifestyle, it took almost four days before Mohammed, 57, his wife Shelly-Ann Ragoonanan, 43 and his mentally-ill brother, 52-year-old Nazim Mohammed’s decomposing bodies were found inside their home on Thursday afternoon.
According to reports, the couple’s son Vishard, who lives in another village in Penal, was trying to contact his parents since Sunday but there was no response.
On Thursday, he decided to visit but was met with a locked gate. He climbed over and saw a door to the housebroken.
He then made the gruesome discovery of his father lying in a corridor near the door and his mother and uncle lying inside. On a bed, he found his three-year-old sister and eight-month-old brother sitting among the stench of decaying bodies.
Vishard took the children out of the house and a friend who drove him to the house contacted police. The children’s uncle took them to the Siparia District Health Facility where they were treated for dehydration and malnutrition. Police believe the trio were killed since Sunday.
“He always had a fear that somebody was coming for him and that was the reason he lived with the house secured like that. Very few people entered his home. He always had a lot of chains and padlocks. From time to time, he would have a lot of money in the house. He was not a fella who would lime by a bar and stand up and talk,” the friend said.
Other residents said they only knew the family by seeing him around but never really interacted with him. At Roger’s Bar, opposite his home, a worker said that Mohammed rarely came out and would stop by the bar once in a while to buy a softdrink and return home immediately.
She said that Mohammed had been that way for the past 20 years and his wife and children were rarely ever seen.
Even Ragoonanan’s brother Vijay said the family lived reclusively for the past 24 years that they were in a common-law relationship. He said even family members rarely went to the house. He said although the property was blocked around at the front and side, there was an opening in the back where he planted a garden. He said the killer(s) might have entered from the back.
“Her husband was a real nice fella but they were kind of reclusive. He was a businessman but he never let plenty people come in there. Probably because of the number of things he had like iron and truck body parts. They rarely talked about their business though,” Vishard said.
He said Vishard, who lives with him, is in dire need of counselling or may suffer serious mental problems. He said Vishard could not sleep after seeing his mother’s decomposing corpse and struggles to speak of the incident.
The traumatised son returned to the Homicide Bureau of Investigations, Region Three office yesterday. Investigators returned to the scene hoping to find more clues. Up to yesterday, there was no motive or suspect held.