No love triangle in Williamsville killings

Dipchand Heeralal and Radica Baldeo were murdered in their home in Williamsville on Wednesday.
Dipchand Heeralal and Radica Baldeo were murdered in their home in Williamsville on Wednesday.

A NEWSPAPER article which said murdered couple Dipchand Heeralal and Radica Baldeo were part of a love triangle, did not sit well with their relatives.

Heeralal’s relatives are accusing the woman of creating mischief while Baldeo’s relatives accused her of being “in denial”.

Sunday Newsday visited the woman’s home at Garth Road in Williamsville where a male relative said she did not want to speak to the media. Baldeo’s marital home is located about a two-minute drive away.

On Wednesday, a handyman found the bodies of gardener Heeralal, 62, and his common-law wife Baldeo, 53, at their home at American Flats, Kumar Village, Williamsville. Heeralal, fondly called Kumar, and Baldeo, also called Radha, were shot. Like relatives, residents said the couple lived together for almost five years. Apart from planting crops, they reared animals.

However, in a Guardian article, a woman with whom Heeralal shared a previous relationship, claimed not to have known he had “moved in” with another woman.

“I got mad when I read the lies. I know they had been living there for about five years. The woman still thinks she has a husband. She is in denial and cannot accept it. She just don’t want to accept that my step-father left her for my mother. Kumar was a nice person,” Baldeo’s daughter Rachel, 25, said.

Baldeo was a mother of four adult children from a previous relationship. More than 10 years ago, she separated from Peter Baldeo, the father of her children. Peter said he too was shocked and angered by the contents of the article.

Peter said: “We separated but I had a good relationship with her. I used to do good with Kumar too. Everybody in the village knew they both lived as a couple. Both of them already passed. Why make a bacchanal about this? Let us focus on the funerals.”

Heeralal did not have children of his own but was a father figure to many, relatives said.

“It was no secret that Radha and Kumar were living together. They walked the street together, they go garden together, they go out together and the whole village knows that. We cannot understand why this woman is creating mischief and tarnishing his name,” said Heeralal’s nephew, Kevin Ali.

At about 3.30 pm on Wednesday, the handyman went to the house and called out to Heeralal. When he did not get a response, he looked through a window and saw the bodies. Baldeo’s body was found under a table. She was shot in the head. Nearby was Heeralal who had a gunshot to the chest.

Autopsies are expected to be done tomorrow at the Forensic Science Centre in St James. The Baldeo family is hoping for one funeral for the couple.

Police have not yet determined a motive for the double homicide and Homicide Bureau Region III is investigating.

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"No love triangle in Williamsville killings"

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