Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
A Chinese restaurant and bar proprietor, known for his kindness and generosity, was found brutally murdered in his business in Ste Madeleine on Sunday night, leaving the community shocked and saddened.
Xhi Li Li, 49, was the owner of Yue Hua Chinese Restaurant and Bar, located at the corner of Manahambre Road and M2 Ring Road. Police believe the killing occurred during a robbery. His body was discovered around 11.50 pm after a customer went to the establishment to make a purchase.
Police said the proprietor typically conducted late-night sales through a small opening in the front door after locking up. However, when the customer looked through the opening, he noticed a large amount of blood on the restaurant floor behind the counter. Alarmed, the customer went to the nearby Ste Madeleine Police Station a short distance away and made a report.
Officers who responded found the front door of the establishment open. A trail of blood led them behind the counter, where Li was found lying in a foetal position on the ground. His hands and feet were bound at the wrists and ankles with duct tape, and there were visible injuries to his head and face. Police believe he may have been beaten to death with a wooden baton.
Police seized several items at the scene, including a blood-stained blue bandana, a roll of grey duct tape with blood, a gold-coloured hoop earring, a DVR and security camera, and wet and dry swabs taken from a wooden baton.
The proprietor, who lived near his business, was well known in the community and described by residents as a kind and generous individual.
He had operated the business for more than a decade. One resident said the businessman had been robbed once before, while another could not recall any previous incidents at the establishment.
When Guardian Media visited yesterday, the bar was closed, and the landlord declined comment.
Residents also declined to speak on camera, but they expressed sadness over his death. One of them, a regular customer at the establishment, said he was at the bar with friends sometime before 11 pm that fateful night.
He claimed there were “strange” men liming at the bar. He only learnt of the owner’s death yesterday morning. “It’s sad,” the resident lamented, adding that the owner was generous to his customers and usually opened late hours to accommodate them.
“Chinee is a man who gives anybody anything; even if you come with a $10 short, he is a man who assist you.”
He felt the Government should be more aggressive in its anti-crime policies, including the resumption of hangings.
“The Government not doing nothing for crime. Them escalating crime. If they start to hang in the morning, and you get 20 years for a gun, and you are 60 years, you will come out when you are 80.”
He added that the United National Congress had promised that when they win, everyone would win, but they failed to keep that promise, as “nobody win; people dying still.” Another resident, who said he had known the owner for more than a decade, mentioned that the victim’s family—his wife and three children—still live in his native country.
Last week Monday, a Chinese national was assaulted during a robbery at a Chinese-owned business—RTT Mall Supermarket—in Cocoyea Village, San Fernando. The 45-year-old victim was at the business around 8:45 pm with the 78-year-old proprietress and a female employee who is a Spanish national when three bandits wearing ski masks stormed in.
One suspect jumped over the counter and began placing bottles of alcohol into a JanSport backpack, while another confronted the male employee. During a struggle, the employee was struck on the head, right elbow and left upper thigh with a broken glass bottle. The third suspect stole an undisclosed quantity of cash from the cash register.
The bandits fled in the direction of the San Fernando Bypass Road. The injured man, who was bleeding profusely, was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital, where he was treated for lacerations to the scalp, left thigh and right elbow. Up to last evening, no one had been arrested in either of these incidents.
Moonasar: No rise in bar robberies, but owners must stay vigilant
Meanwhile, Barkeepers and Operators Association of T&T president Sateesh Moonasar said as far as he was aware there has been no reported increase in robberies targeting bars and restaurants, but operators are still being urged to remain vigilant.
“We have not seen an uptick in robberies in the restaurant business per se, but robberies and crime in Trinidad and Tobago is a very serious thing right now and is something that is sort of out of control. So it is something that we need to take very seriously. As proprietors of businesses, we need to do what we need to do in order to secure our businesses in terms of private security and so forth.”
However, he acknowledged that in recent times there has been a slight decrease in crime. “We ask the relevant authorities to continue to do what they are doing and have the crime rate down as much as possible.”
Moonasar said he would frequently remind his members to ensure the safety of their staff and customers.
