Missing taxi driver found murdered

SUNDAY SORROW:Shivana Roodal, top, consoles her weeping mother Maltie yesterday after the body of Shivana's father and Maltie's husband Pooran Roodal was found in his car with a stab wound to his neck in Kelly Village, Caroni.
SUNDAY SORROW:Shivana Roodal, top, consoles her weeping mother Maltie yesterday after the body of Shivana's father and Maltie's husband Pooran Roodal was found in his car with a stab wound to his neck in Kelly Village, Caroni.

A Kelly Village family’s worst fears were realised when their loved one, taxi driver Pooran Roodal, who was reported missing on Saturday night was found dead in his car yesterday morning.

Police said they have ruled out robbery as a motive in the death of 47-year-old Roodal who was also called “Shivo” since his money and other valuables were found in the car. His relatives were in deep shock and weeping at the murder scene which was a mere walking distance from their home.

Residents mill around at the crime scene where taxi driver Pooran Roodal’s body was found in his car in Kelly Village, Caroni yesterday.

According to relatives, Roodal left home at 5.45 pm on Saturday after being called to do a private hire job. Fifteen minutes later, the people who had hired Roodal, called his home to state they were still waiting to be picked up. Later on Saturday night when Roodal failed to return home, his worried relatives contacted the police and also carried out searches on their own. It was Roodal’s daughter Shivana who yesterday morning found his Toyota Crown car parked a short distance inside Albert Street extension, a dirt road near the Grace Presbyterian Church in Caroni. She later saw her father’s body slumped on the steering wheel. He had been stabbed in the neck and his throat slit.

Newsday visited the scene yesterday as officers of the Homicide Bureau Region Three were about to remove the vehicle, which still had an ‘Off Duty’ sign on the windscreen. Nearby in another car, a weeping Shivana hugged her mother Maltie who was also crying. The victim’s brother Chanibali Roodal said his brother may have known his killer.

“I work as a taxi driver myself in the area and we have one rule, if we don’t know the person we will not pick them up. My brother wasn’t in the habit of picking up strangers. He was very aware of how dangerous being a taxi driver could be and he didn’t take any chances. His daughter noticed the vehicle when we were going back to the police station to see if they had any updates on his whereabouts,” Roodal said.

MURDERED: Taxi driver Pooran Roodal.

Today, officials at the Forensic Science Centre are expected to be kept very busy conducting autopsies not only Roodal’s body but also on Jermone Samaroo who was shot dead at 6 pm on Saturday outside his mother’s parlour on Factory Road in Diego Martin. Autopsies are also expected to be done on the bodies of Kahriym Garcia and his common-law wife Samantha Isaacs.

Garcia is reported to have shot Isaacs and dumped her body on Haig Street in Carenage during the early morning hours on Saturday. She was shot in the face and legs. Hours later, as police surrounded his home, Garcia took his own life by shooting himself in the head.

Comments

"Missing taxi driver found murdered"

More in this section