Murder victim's brother calls his death a 'demonic act'

Kiran Sookdeo of Gopie Trace, Penal, in shock after hearing the news that his brother Samlall Sookdeo was found dead. PHOTO BY ANIL RAMPERSAD
Kiran Sookdeo of Gopie Trace, Penal, in shock after hearing the news that his brother Samlall Sookdeo was found dead. PHOTO BY ANIL RAMPERSAD

STACY MOORE

“A demonic act.”

This is how Kiran Sookdeo described the gruesome killing of his brother, Samlall Sookdeo, whose body was found floating in the Gulf of Paria with four concrete blocks and a dog chain tied to him, six days ago.

Samllal, 54, of Gopie Trace, Penal was reported missing the week before. On Monday, his decomposed body was found in the Gulf near Mosquito Creek by a fisherman.

Reports said a chain was tied with blocks around the body which was dressed in a green jersey, blue jeans and black and white sneakers.

The man’s feet were also bound. Investigators believe the killers attempted to submerge the body but were unsuccessful.

Coast Guard (TTCG) officers retrieved the body which was taken to the Forensic Science Centre, St James.

Kiran, 37, lamented the gruesomeness of his brother’s death.

“What kind of people would tie a man with a dog chain and then tie four concrete blocks to the chain and then throw his body in the sea. They wanted him to suffer during death, this is not the act of human beings,” Kiran said.

Deceased Samlall Sookdeo, whose body was found floating.

An autopsy on Friday revealed Samlall died by drowning.

“I could only imagine the pain and suffering my brother endured while in the water. My wish is that justice be served and they hold the killers. My brother didn’t deserve this,” Kiran said at the family’s Penal home.

He said Samlall left home two Friday’s ago to visit friends in Morne Diablo.

“Whenever he goes to visit his friends, most of the time he would stay at their houses for two or three days and return home.

“When a few days past and I did not see him I began to get worried. I called his cell phone and it was going to voice mail,” Kiran said. He then filed a missing person report at the Penal Police Station.

“I carried out my own search to find my brother, but always came home empty handed.”

Kiran said last Monday he received a telephone call that a body was found in the Gulf.

“I was still, somehow, hoping that it was not Samlall, but it was him. I was able to identity him by the clothes he left home in and a scar to his back following an surgery three years ago,” he said.

Kiran said a video which had gone viral featuring a man showing off a large sum of money was not his brother.

“I don’t know how this rumour started, but that man is not my brother in the video. If my brother had such money he would not have shown it off to the world,” he said.

Samlall will be buried today following a service at the Guides Funeral Home, Coffee Street, San Fernando. Homicide Region Three officers are investigating the case.

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"Murder victim’s brother calls his death a ‘demonic act’"

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