Bloody start to 2023 - 2 murders in Caroni; man found dead at home

Police in the Central Division were kept busy as they investigated the murders of two people hours apart on New Year's Day.

In the first incident, Caroni police received a report of a dead body being found in a forested area on Railway Road, Caroni, behind the Vishnu Boys' Hindu College at around 12.15 pm.

Police went to the scene and found the body of a man with chop wounds to the head and neck.

Investigators said the man appeared to be of east Indian descent and had a low haircut and short beard.

He was wearing a grey t-shirt with black track pants.

Homicide investigators visited the scene with a district medical officer who declared the man dead.

Up to press time, police were unable to confirm the man's identity.

Police said the body showed signs of rigor mortis and suspect the man may have been killed up to six hours before the body was found.

Shortly after, at around 1.35 pm, Rodney Charles and a woman were sitting in a white Nissan B15 near the St David RC Church, Kelly Village, Caroni, when a gunman walked up to them and shot them.

Residents heard the gunshots and called the police who went to the scene and found Charles bleeding from the neck and chest, while the woman was bleeding from her leg.

Police took Charles and the wounded woman to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Centre in Mt Hope where he was declared dead on arrival.

Police also said the body of a 46-year-old Penal man was found in his home on Sunday. Up to press time, they were unable to classify it as a homicide.

Police identified the dead man as Nasir Saqui, 47

He operated a car-care centre at his home at Fazal Avenue, Penal.

Officers from the Penal Police Station received information from a 71-year-old relative of Saqui, who said the family had been unsuccessfully trying to contact him on Sunday morning.

The relative went to Saqui's home and found him on his bed. He had a wound to the right side of his forehead, near his right eye.

PCs Bahaw and Gay responded to the relative's call. The district medical officer and homicide detectives were then contacted.

ASP Nanan, Inspector Rampartap, W/Insp Taitt and Sgt Boodlal of South Western Division and police from San Fernando Homicide Bureau visited the scene. Investigations are ongoing.

Earlier in the day, hours after ushering in the new year, a Laventille man was shot and wounded while driving through Belmont on Sunday morning.

Police said the man was driving his black Hyundai Tucson through a part of Belmont known as the Marylands at around 9 am, when he heard gunshots and noticed a bullet broke through the back windscreen of the car.

He also felt a burning sensation on his right shoulder and realised he was shot. He drove to the Port of Spain General Hospital where he was treated and discharged.

Belmont police visited the scene and are continuing enquiries.

The bloody start to 2023 comes as TT reached a record-breaking 600-plus murders in 2022.

- With reporting by Clint Chan Tack