Brother of chopped man: He baked a pie before being killed

BEFORE Premnath Maraj left his Avocat home on Monday afternoon to visit his close friend Taramatee Ramsingh, he baked a macaroni pie which would have been eaten during his birthday on Tuesday.

However, the pie remained on top of the stove uneaten, because Maraj never returned home.

It was while he was cutting the yard around Ramsingh’s St John’s Branch Road, Siparia home on Monday afternoon, the weed wacker dislodged pieces of gravel which struck a galvanised steel fence separating Ramsingh’s home from a close male relative’s home.

An eyewitness said the man became annoyed by the gravel hitting the fence and a heated argument ensued which resulted in Maraj being chopped to death. Ramsingh was also chopped when she intervened, but survived and was warded in hospital. After the attack, the suspect ran through nearby bushes and escaped. His whereabouts remain unknown.

Maraj’s brother Davindranath Maraj found the pie covered with a kitchen cloth when he visited the victim's home on Tuesday to secure his belongings.

Maraj told Newsday, “On Tuesday after I went to pick up his vehicle from the house where the incident happened, I went to his home. I saw a big macaroni pie on top his stove covered with a cloth. The day of the incident, he had cooked and prepared for his birthday.

“In my thinking, he had plans to celebrate his birthday with the girl (Ramsingh) or any other family members who were around, but it didn’t work out,” Maraj said.

He added that his brother and Ramsingh had developed a close friendship over the past few months and Maraj would often visit her home, so it was no surprise he was there on Monday. What the family didn’t expect was having to visit the Forensic Sciences Centre in St James hours later to identify his body.

“The whole family is shattered right now, this has hit us real hard because it’s not like a car accident or something you may think might happen. It feels different because someone took my brother's life and for what, some gravel hitting a fence? This has hit me very hard because it was not a natural death.”

Maraj said the family later learnt his brother had taken a week’s vacation which was due to start on Tuesday – his birthday. They speculate he may have taken the mini-vacation to celebrate his birthday and Divali.

Maraj lived alone and was the father of a 13-year-old girl. Maraj's autopsy is set for Friday. Asked what justice he will like to see for his his brother, Davindranath did not mince his words.

“Plain talk, the same way he (the suspect) took my brother's life, we would like to see someone do the same thing to him. I’m being real with you.

When contacted for an update, Ramsingh’s husband Eugene Baptiste said she was still warded at San Fernando General Hospital. Investigations are ongoing.