Separate funerals planned for Princes Town couple

Separate funerals are being planned for the Princes Town couple who died on Saturday, although they spent the last 13 years together.

Relatives of Shaline Ramkissoon, 38, and her common-law husband Steve "Ricky" Jugmohan, 40, have had separate wakes since their deaths.

Ramkissoon’s wake is being held at her parents' home in St John’s Village in San Fernando. The wake for Jugmohan is held at his family’s home at La Paille Road in Princes Town.

Newsday spoke briefly with relatives, who could not confirm the funeral dates. They said there would be not be a joint funeral. They did not give further information.

The police said the autopsies done at the Forensic Sciences Centre in St James late Tuesday ruled that the couple died by suicide.

Shortly before noon on Saturday, the couple’s nine-year daughter found their bodies on the ground floor of the family’s Princes Town home. The girl’s six-year-old brother was on the top floor, where Jugmohan’s mother and other relatives live.

The night before the tragedy, the couple had filmed a video describing what they were going to do. They said they had financial difficulties, and that they loved their children.

Their daughter heard everything as she was sitting on a bed in the bedroom the family shared.

Ramkissoon’s mother Rena Ramkissoon, 61, later found a hand-written note addressed to "my sweet kids" apologising for leaving the two children without parents.

The letter said Ramkissoon and Jugmohan were "in too deep with little or no time."

Traumatologist Hanif Benjamin has called on relatives and others to put the children first to avoid any further possible harm.

Ramkissoon, who ran a Play Whe booth, has two other children from a previous relationship. They live abroad with their father. Jugmohan’s daughter from a previous relationship lives with his mother.