Murdered school guard remembered for generosity to children

The sister of slain school security guard Malesha Motilal says she will best be remembered for her kindness and generosity to the children she was assigned to protect.

Motilal, 46, was shot in the eye while walking to the Carapichaima East Secondary School, where she worked, on December 2.

Passers-by took her to the Chaguanas District Health Facility. She was transferred to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, where she was put on life support, and died on December 6.

Police from the Homicide Bureau of Investigation Region III are continuing enquiries.

Speaking with Newsday at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, on Monday, Motilal's older sister Patricia Chin Kong said she could not think why anyone would want to harm her sister, given her kind, generous nature.

She said Motilal had no children of her own, and enjoyed talking with students at the school where she worked.

Ching Kong said while some people would be concerned about their safety as a security guard, Motilal enjoyed her job and looked forward to going to work every day.

"She loved that job a lot. She never complained about the job...for her to be up at whatever time to reach to her workplace on time, you had to know she was a dedicated worker. She loved her job.

"She loved interacting with the children. The different schools she went to, she always had a child behind her, some little child who fancied her.

"I even remember one time when she asked me to organise some books for a child. She was that kind of person."

Ching Kong said her last conversation with Motilal was about Play Whe, the day before she was shot.

Commenting on the frequency of murders Ching Kong said it was too much to keep track of and most could be avoided if people were willing to ask for forgiveness.

"To tell you the truth, this is too overwhelming, something you wake up in the morning and you open Facebook or you browse the news or the newspapers and you see overnight something like four and five murders. That is why you have such problems inside here (the Forensic Science Centre) with the backlog of bodies. You not getting chance to get one out when you have two and three coming in.

"It all starts with us as people. If you offend somebody, whether it was intentional or not, just turn and say you're sorry."