SRP identified Barrackpore murder victim – her brother

AFTER being told the body of a murder victim had been found at Cunjal Road, Barrackpore, SRP officer Stacy Persad, 38, was about to go to the scene.

What she did not know was that it was the body of her older brother.

Police said a farmer found the decomposing body of Deoraj Persad, 55, with multiple stab wounds last Thursday at Cocoa Land.

Persad has been in the police service for seven years. She told Newsday she got a call around 3 pm last Thursday about the incident and was prepared to go to the area. But she was later told the homicide division would be handling it.

Then she began getting photos of the body on her phone via Whatsapp and realised the victim was her brother.

She said, “If I had gone there, they would have been taking away my body as well.

“I don’t see why people would do this. He didn’t deserve it.”

Deoraj, the eldest of seven siblings, lived alone at Lengua Village, St Croix Road, Princes Town. He had a 33-year-old son, Ronnie Persad. He was a handyman and did odd jobs for people in the area, such as washing cars, cutting cane and sweeping.

Persad told Newsday Deoraj had lost vision in his left eye in an accident in which his legs were also injured. Afterwards he walked with a limp.

She said the autopsy revealed he had been stabbed in the hand, chest and abdomen and his legs were broken.

“They tortured him. What they (the killer/killers) didn’t do is what they forgot to do.”

She said their father died two years ago and their mother, Garlo Persad,has been in hospital recovering from a heart attack.

She said breaking the news to her mother was one of the hardest things she has ever done.

“I am trying to be strong for my mom. I want to scream and cry it out, but I cannot let her see.”

She said Deoraj was very caring and protective and was a father figure to her.

“As much as I am a grown woman, he would still refer to me as ‘the child.’”

She is the youngest of the seven.

She said he did not go beyond standard three in primary school, but worked to help his family financially .

He would have been 56 this Saturday, and Persad said she was planning a get-together for him.

“I thought I would have bought him a cake and surprised him.

“I had plans to take all my brothers and sisters along with my mom to spend quality time, as we all never had a picture together, and I was going to do that. I just wanted a closeness with us.”

She said her husband last saw Deoraj walking last Tuesday and waved to him from inside his vehicle.

Asked how her other siblings are coping, Persad said everyone is hurt and confused.

“We all asking the same questions – even our cousins and the villagers. Why someone will want to hurt him like that? He had nothing, only a ply house. No money, no jewellery. So why?”

Deoraj's funeral was held at his parents' house in Princes Town and he was later cremated.