Doubles vendor murdered

STACY MOORE

Bandits yesterday stormed a Couva house, shooting dead a man as he was boiling channa in preparation to sell doubles later, before robbing the family of cash and jewelry.

Police said that at 2 am, two men stormed the house at Cameron Road in Balmain and shot Nishad Amrit Radhay twice in the head in the kitchen. As the pot of channa continued boiling, Radhay lay dead on the floor. His parents, hearing the gunshots, left their bedroom to check on what was going on and were confronted by the intruders.

The house was ransacked and the bandits later made off with cash and jewelry. A relative told Newsday that Radhay was up at 1 am with his parents as they were making preparations for the family’s doubles business. He later told his parents to go to bed as he would complete the preparations, the relative said.

“He had the bara already prepared and was just overseeing the channa when the gunmen entered. They said it was a robbery and then Nishad was shot in the head,” the weeping relative said. “What kind of people would do this? He did not deserve this,” the woman said. Last month, Radhay competed in the UWI half marathon.

On his Facebook page, Radhay wrote ; “This chapter in my life is just beginning because this how I want to live my life and honestly my fitness level is off the roof.” His time in the half-marathon was one hour and 52 minutes. Radhay was also planning a January wedding with his fiancé.

Last month, not too far from Radhay’s home, Chandroutie Harrylal was stabbed to death in her house which was ransacked and items stolen. Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh slammed government for abandoning Couva and the entire country to the criminal element.

Indarsingh said he first got to know Radhay when he worked as an administrative officer at his constituency office for a year. Indarsingh said that after Caroni 1975 Ltd was closed down by a previous PNM government, Radhay’s family turned to doubles, as a means of earning a living.

“This murder here, this is a tragedy. A young man helps his family in their doubles business in his own house and is shot in the head. This is very disturbing and all of Balmain is in mourning. This should never have happened to such a bright and law-abiding individual,” Indarsingh said.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Indarsingh pointed out, had over a year and half ago, assured him in Parliament that joint police/army patrols were taking place in Couva. Where are these joint patrols, Indarsingh asked. No arrest has been made.

In two unrelated incidents, Ryan Powder and Marlon John were killed on Tuesday. Powder was killed in Windy Hill, Arouca while John was killed on Pashley Street in Laventille.

Powder was shot at 3 pm and died later at hospital. No motive has been established and his killer remains at large. At 7.30 pm, John, 29, was walking along Pashley Street when gunshots were heard. Residents called police who later found and took John to hospital where he died. No arrest has been made. The murder toll up to press time was 432.