Relatives: Killer was pushed over the edge

Roger Singh, 47, was a father, a lecturer at the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC), who taught the diploma at the Automotive Services Technician Diploma Programme, and was even the acting head of the department.

His relatives at the Forensic Science Centre described him as “a fun person to be around” who had a good upbringing.

So, why would a seemingly well-rounded, well-educated man like Singh resort to shooting his wife dead, then turning the gun on himself?

Singh’s relatives in speaking to Newsday at forensics on Tuesday said they were still trying to find that out.

But they appealed to the public not to judge him. Rather, they asked that the public showed compassion toward him, saying the public did not know his side of the story.

Relatives told Newsday Singh was a man who was pushed over the edge. They said after he left his first wife to marry Naiee Singh, he could not find closure when that marriage failed as well.

“When you push people over the edge, this is what happens. We are just humans. Not everyone will think sane. What you could handle I may not be able to handle,” one relative said.

A relative told Newsday he and Singh met each other at NESC and developed a relationship even though he was married and had a son. Newsday was told he divorced his wife at the time with the promise that he would be married to Singh right after.

“He went and got the divorce. It cost him a lot of money, hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement. He did it on the promise they would be together. She wanted him to abandon his son as well. She was putting him between a rock and a hard place, saying if you don’t get rid of your son I will kill myself.”

The relative said the conflict caused the son to gravitate more to his mother.

When it was announced that they were getting divorced, it came as a shock to Singh’s relatives. In the perception of the Singh family, they were living a happy life.

“He never hit her. I could show you pictures of them happy together. She had a good life, the man gave up everything for her. She had a four-bedroom house. She had a car, but never wanted to drive. Any time she wanted to go on vacation he would send her. She always wanted the high life on weekends. He would take her out and go all over. In my opinion, her life was good. All of a sudden she up and leave.”

Relatives said despite their pleas for him to move on, he became fixated on his estranged wife.

He began to follow her around, asking for an explanation as to why she left. His fixation led to verbal arguments and he was later slapped with a restraining order. But relatives said he was simply looking for answers.

“He was feeling as though he was robbed of his life.”

Relatives however said his actions were inexcusable.

“We couldn’t believe he went to that extreme,” the relative said. “We always spoke to him and told him to move on. There was more to life. But the shame and embarrassment and because of how he lost all this money he couldn’t handle it. And he lost his entire life. And for what?”

At 8 am on Monday Singh went to his wife’s workplace Venture Credit Union on the Southern Main Road, Couva, with brown bag in his hands. He walked past security guards and into the car park where he waited for his wife, Naiee Singh, a 31-year-old administrative officer.

When she got out of her car in the car park of her workplace he approached her and pulled out a gun from the brown bag, and shot her twice. He then turned the gun on himself. They both died at the scene.

When contacted by Newsday, relatives of Naiee Singh declined to comment on either her murder of the statements made by Roger Singh’s relatives.