Triple murder leaves family confused

RELATIVES of the youngsters who became this country's first triple murder victims on Sunday, have told Newsday they remain baffled as to why anyone would want the three dead.

Police said that at 4.50 pm, officers received a report of gunshots in Boy's Lane, D'Abadie and later found the three teens dead.

Brothers Jamal Hackshaw, 19, and Andre Singh, 16, were found in the backyard of their mother’s home while their cousin Keron Madoo was found in a neighbour’s yard behind his aunt’s home.

Police said they recovered 46 spent shells at the scene. No motive was given for the killings.

Speaking at the teens’ grandmother’s Boy’s Lane Extension home, relatives said the three were farmers and not involved in criminal activities.

Mother of the brothers, Nadia Hackshaw, 39, said the only reason she was able to speak with the media was that she was on “some Panadol'' to numb her headache.

Hackshaw, who was taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital after viewing her sons' bodies at the Forensic Science Centre on Monday, said she has barely slept since Sunday.

Hackshaw, the mother of four boys, recalled her final moments with her second and last sons who wanted to know what she planned on cooking. She said she left them with the option to cook for themselves but they never did, instead going by aunts, uncles and their grandmother, who all live nearby, for lunch.

“I was not home, I went out and I get the call. My mother called me. I could not get up off the ground for about half an hour,” Hackshaw said.

Jamal, she said, began planting chives and celery which he sold. He was planning to plant hot peppers after hearing it retailed for $2 each.

Singh, a fourth-form student of El Dorado East, wanted to become an underwater welder, Hackshaw said.

The teens' grandmother Kathleen Bharath said when she heard the gunshots on Sunday, cold fear gripped her in the stomach as she knew her grandchildren were outside. Fearing for her own life, she only checked after the shooting stopped.

“I was inside watching TV and I heard the gunshots. I just wait until the shooting ended and then I went outside to see what had happened. I have no idea (why they were killed) because as a parent we does be the last to know. Jamal lived here since he small, the others living close by and they does be here everyday," Bharath said.

A relative claimed the gunmen parked their getaway car nearby, walked to the house and opened fire. He claimed the shooting lasted about ten minutes.