Bishop: Ramkissoon did not deserve to die

MURDER victim Ravi Ramkissoon, 45, of Couva was an upright and decent individual who did not deserve to die, said the presiding minister at his funeral.

Bishop Joseph A Corriea said Ramkissoon was a community man who lived his life for his family and the people of his village.

“He had more dignity than Rowley,” Corriea said, but did not elaborate.

Ramkissoon would be remembered as a most humble soul, he said.

The funeral took place yesterday at Ramkissoon’s home in Basta Hall, Couva.

The priest said man was created to be stronger than a lion and mightier than the eagle as those animals feared man. “While God made man to be powerful, he did not create man to kill man.”

Corriea went on, “While a man may light a deya or candle, he said, it is a man’s character that should light up the world. MP for Couva South Rudranath Indarsingh said Ramkissoon was a childhood friend.

“This is a senseless murder and first of any such incident in the peaceful community of Basta Hall,” Indarsingh said. Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith and National Security Minister Stuart Young, he said, are both pleading with the community to work with them in fighting crime.

But, Indarsingh charged, “When you go to the police station, one is faced with police officers who apparently do not have the empathy and they don’t have the training to take an alias name and come into the community and work with the community to find out who is threatening the citizens.”

Indarsingh said when Ramkissoon went to the Couva Police Station to report threats against him, police said they could not investigate a report on the basis of an alias but needed the real name of the man who threatened him. No report was taken, he said, and Ramkissoon was shot and killed.

The MP is convinced that Ramkissoon’s life would have been saved if the police had acted on his report.

To Griffith, he said, “If you want the law-abiding citizens to work with you in fighting crime, then the police must have that training and that empathy to deal with these issues, and this is how we can weed out criminals throughout the length and breadth of TT.”

His widow Vidiya Ramkissoon wept at the funeral.

Ramkissoon’s niece Regina Ramgolam read the eulogy, saying her uncle was an incredible man, very hard-working, humble and talented.

“He was responsible for single-handedly building up and renovating the space he lived in for the comfort of his sons and wife,” Ramlogam said.

She remembered how happy her uncle was at the recent Divali celebrations when he visited her family.

Ramkissoon, the father of two boys, Avinash and Aravinda, was killed in front of his doorstep at about 4.30 pm on Thursday as he arrived home from work. He was shot several times in the head and chest.