Demanding money, drugs and jewelry, bandits then gunned down a Palo Seco contractor in front of his grandchildren on Sunday. Eight-year-old Ajay Ramroop and his brothers, seven-year-old Mikhael and Michael, three, have been in shock since seeing their grandfather, 59-year-old Boysie Ramroop, lying in a pool of blood after being killed by the bandits. Ramroop, a pipe fitting and maintenance contractor, was taken to the Siparia Health Centre after being shot, but died while receiving treatment. In the end, all the bandits made off with was $400.
Reports say around 8 pm, Ramroop and his family were preparing dinner at their Matthew Trace Extention home in Sobo Village, when two masked gunmen came in through an open front door.
The men, dressed in long-sleeve jerseys, immediately opened fire on Ramroop, hitting him three times in the abdomen. Ramroop’s sons, Sean, 33, also from Sobo Village, and Sheldon, 27, of Aripero Village, Rousillac, were also shot in the leg and ankle respectively. Up to noon yesterday, puddles of blood remained in the Ramroops’ living room since crime scene investigators had to return to retrieve more 9 mm shell casings lodged in the walls.
Relatives said the bandits also fired shots wildly as they left, putting the children’s lives at risk. They even shot a picture of Jesus Christ. Another son, 27-year-old Sherwin Ramroop, who lives next door to his parents, said he heard the gunshots and his mother Narmanie Ramroop screaming his name. He said by the time he looked out, he saw his younger brother, 23-year-old Shannon Ramroop, running out of the house, shouting, “Bandits!” “I heard a set of explosions and I thought it was firecrackers, and then after, I heard my mom bawling out and calling me,” he said. “When I came here I saw my father lying in blood. When I picked him up there was blood from his waist go down, so I could not say where he got shot.”
Sherwin said his mother, who was pouring soda for the children when the bandits entered, was kicked in the back and thrown on top of the children. “Right now, Ajay is in shock and he isn’t saying anything. They are with my big brother right now,” Sherwin said. He said he believed the attack was not a robbery since there were more valuable items for bandits to take. “This is not a robbery, I can tell anyone that. They came here and they shot him and then they shot the other two boys on their feet. This cannot be a robbery. If this was a robbery there were more valuable things to take; whacker, power saw and water pumps. There were plenty more valuable things to take rather than $400.”
Sherwin said his father was robbed last year at their home, but the men responsible were held by police. He said the bandits knew the remote area well, since their home is almost a mile from the SS Erin Road. Although there were no threats to Ramroop’s life, Sherwin recalled that his father had an argument with a man over a parcel of land he used for agriculture. He said the man had cleared a piece of his father’s land. But, he said, Ramroop cleared the lands and left it idle. “Anyone who comes here on foot has to know the area good,” he said. “Now you can’t feel safe in your own home. This is how I feel, because my old man was the most peaceful person you could have found in this neighbourhood. Anything you want, once he had it, he would give it to you. For someone to come and kill him in his own home, it has to be something else.”
He said Ramroop was doing pipe-fitting work along one of Petrotrin’s oilfield roads, but since his death, his brother and several other workers are now unemployed.