Moruga murder victim's family can't afford funeral

Anthony Singh, son of murder victim Merle Singh-Subero of Moruga, is crying out for help, saying the criminals who broke into his home on Friday and shot his mother stole the family’s savings of $5,000.

Singh said the family does not have the money to pay for a funeral and is asking who is going to help them.

“We are struggling to survive, since our savings were stolen by thieves who shot and killed my 65-year-old mother.”

Singh said he did not have faith in the police finding the criminals who took his mother’s life and the family's savings.

Singh-Subero was shot and killed by thieves toting guns and cutlasses who broke down the door of the family’s home at Cachipe Village.

Police said Singh-Subero was trying to barricade the plyboard door and shield her two grandsons when she was shot. An autopsy at the Forensic Science Centre in St James on Monday revealed she died of a gunshot wound to the neck.

She was the mother of two and grandmother of four.

The three thieves beat her two grandsons, Ryan, 30, and Michael, 24 after shooting her. Michael, who suffers from scoliosis, was beaten with a gun and a cutlass.

Singh-Subero’s daughter Michelle, who is mentally and physically challenged, also lived with her.

Ryan said the family has been struggling since his grandmother’s death.

“We are unable to sleep in the house since this incident,” he said.

Singh said he believes the thieves came for the welfare payments the family received to take care of his sister, Michelle, and his nephew Michael.

“There is no one in the family now to give proper care to my sister and my ailing nephew. My mother was the caregiver for both of them,” Singh said, adding thatt he may now need to find a home to put his sister and nephew in. The family is now staying with their grandmother, who is 93.

Calls to Moruga/Tableland MP Lovell Francis went unanswered.

No arrest has been made in connection with the murder/robbery. Moruga police are continuing investigations.