KILLED FOR MILK MONEY

KENNETH Parris was a committed family man. The Ministry of Works and Transport employee drove his car as a private-hire (PH) taxi after working hours to provide for his family including buying milk and diapers for his five-month-old son.

During the early morning hours yesterday, Parris was held up, robbed and shot four times in the head by a bandit who came for his money. He died later while undergoing surgery at hospital.

At his Lyndon Street, Curepe home, shocked relatives were asking each other one question. Why did the bandits have to kill Parris? “They could have just taken the money and go, why did they have to shoot him for,” a relative asked.

Parris, 47, was shot by the bandit near the Barataria roundabout at around 2 am yesterday. Police confirmed that the father of three was shot in the head four times. They believe robbery was the motive for his murder.

An employee of the ministry’s Drainage Division, Parris worked the Port of Spain to San Juan taxi route. Police believe he picked up his killer, who pretended to be a passenger, at the San Juan taxi stand in Port of Spain.

Other drivers saw Parris crash his Nissan B15 car after he was shot and called an ambulance. He was taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital, where he died while being treated at around 9.30 am.

Parris’ aunt Claire James told Newsday her nephew was a hard-working man who after finishing his work at the ministry, would rest for a bit and then go back out and ply his car as a taxi in order to make ends meet and to afford expenses for his five-month-old son.

“He was a really nice person. He always put family first and provided for them. Right now we’re not sure of the circumstances behind the murder,” she said. James told Newsday that Parris’ wife was too distraught to speak to the media. Up to press time, no arrest had been made and investigations are continuing.

In an unrelated incident, but one also involving a taxi, two gunmen robbed a taxi driver of his car early yesterday morning at the Tarouba overpass. They then drove to Cocoyea where one shot and wounded a burger vendor during an attempted robbery.

The victim, Satesh Kumar, was up to yesterday warded at the San Fernando General Hospital in a stable condition. The stolen car was later found abandoned by police in Cocoyea.

Shortly after 12 am, the gunmen held up the taxi driver and stole his Nissan AD wagon. About half an hour later, police were told of a shooting at Naparima/Mayaro Road in Cocoyea, after which it the bandits escaped in a car which matched the description and number plate of the stolen wagon.

The report said one of the gunmen approached Kumar, announced a hold-up, then shot him in the right leg. The gunman did not get the chance to steal anything and returned to the car which drove off. While searching for the gunmen, ERP police among them PCs Boodlal, Deo and Ramcharan and WPC Sylvester found the wagon at Forester Avenue in Cocoyea. Mon Repos police are continuing investigations. (
Additional reporting by LAUREL WILLIAMS)