Guyanese shot dead by carjackers in T&T

Jan 14, 2009 News

Investigators believe he was eyewitness to murder

Family members of a Guyanese man who was killed last Friday in Trinidad and Tobago are still awaiting answers on the circumstances surrounding his death.
Fifty-three-year-old Soogrim ‘Raymond’ Haridath, of 80 North Better Hope, East Coast Demerara, was working as a temple caretaker at the Vishwa Shanti Ashram in Diamond Village, Trinidad when he was found dead with what appears to be gunshot wounds, on Friday morning.

Dead: Soogrim Haridath, called Raymond

While newspaper reports in Trinidad suggested that he was killed because he may have witnessed a carjacking, family members in Guyana told this newspaper that his employers have not been cooperative with regards to providing information on how he died.
Speaking with Kaieteur News yesterday, Haridath’s sister, Liloutie Mangru, called Lynette, said that Haridath left Guyana on April 28, 2008 to take up a job as a caretaker for the temple, which is run by a Trinidadian doctor.
According to Mangru, she last heard from her brother on Thursday night, when he called home to Guyana.
However, family members got the shock of their lives the following day when word came that he had died.
She said that she called her brother’s cellular phone but no one answered, and she then contacted the doctor with whom Haridath was working.
“I get through to the man himself that he working with, and he said, ‘Yes, it’s true, right here he lying on the ground, and the police come to carry him away to the mortuary,’ ” Mangru related.
When she enquired how her brother met his death, the man told her that he did not know.
However, according to Mangru, two persons in Trinidad who are associated with the temple subsequently called her and offered their sympathy.
“I asked them and they said it was gunshot. That is what they told me when I asked them,” the woman told this newspaper.
According to the Trinidad Guardian, homicide detectives in the twin-island republic believe that there is a link between Haridath’s killing and that of a Trinidad contractor, Ashmeed Mohamed, whose bullet-riddled body was thrown from a car a short distance from where the temple is located.
According to reports, Mohamed was the victim of a carjacking, and his killers went to a site near the temple where the Guyanese was employed to get rid of the vehicle.
The police believe that Haridath was murdered because he had seen the men who had stolen Mohamed’s car while they were trying to get rid of the vehicle.
Mohamed’s car was found about 150 feet from the temple, with blood stains on the hand brakes.
Haridath’s sister said that his employer had promised to provide relatives with two airline tickets for them to travel to Trinidad to witness the post mortem examination.
But the man recently changed his mind and informed them that the post mortem examination was already done, and that he was making arrangements to send the body back to Guyana.
“It done yesterday (Monday) and nobody from here ain’t went. De man (employer) said he gon look after that,” Mangru said.
Haridath’s relatives are a bit peeved at the lack of information coming from officials in Trinidad regarding his death.
They claimed that even reporters from the Trinidad Guardian, who contacted them by telephone, are reluctant to disclose any details surrounding his apparent murder.
“The newscast from over there call me and asking me questions about he (Haridath), and I asked them and they said they don’t know. Up to now, although I’m asking, nobody ain’t giving me nothing about how he died,” Mangru stated.