MOVES TO WIPE OUT TRAIN LINE – Relative of murdered vendor fears: I could be next

Months after he was shot during an attack which killed 16-year-old Darshan Ramnauth and Geno Shah in Train Line Village, St Augustine, 30-year-old watermelon vendor Dillon Joseph was gunned down at his Caroni stall on Wednesday afternoon.

Joseph's sister said amidst the grief of losing a sibling, she is afraid she and other relatives could be next.

This is the fifth person from Train Line Village, who has been murdered for the year thus far.

Police said Joseph was at his tent selling watermelons on the Caroni Savannah Road, near the Caroni Bridge, around 1.13 pm when a black Nissan Tiida drove up. Two gunmen got out and shot him several times before driving off.

A 37-year-old fish vendor was also wounded.

Police from the Central Division Emergency Response Patrol were called in and took the fish vendor to hospital, where he remained up to late on Wednesday evening.

Cunupia police visited with a district medical officer who declared Joseph dead.

Speaking with Newsday at the scene, Joseph's older sister Indrani Joseph said she was unsure what else could be done to keep her relatives safe, as they have all been extremely cautious of venturing outdoors after several murders in their neighbourhood earlier this year.

"I'm afraid to even stand up out here in the open for too long.

"We don't know what to do again.

"They're trying to kill every one of us. They want the Train Line, they want to fight for the Train Line.

"I am fearful for my life right now. I think I could be next."

The elder Joseph said the murders were particularly troubling to her as her home was one of several burnt down earlier this year.

She said her brother was hesitant to leave home after two of his relatives were shot at by gunmen in the Tunapuna Market on Sunday, but he agreed to help fill in at the watermelon stall while another relative ran errands.

"He didn't want to come out to sell, because he was frightened.

"But the relative said it had a lot of people out on the road and that nothing would happen with all of those people out."

Joseph said she had been packing lunch for her brother when she heard he had been killed.

She said the incident was even more tragic because he was murdered on what would have been Aneesa Ramkissoon's 27th birthday.

Ramkissoon, who was also from the same village , was gunned down at her home on March 4, when she reportedly refused to pay a "tax" imposed by criminals in the area.

"They killing people and showing people they can kill.

"Since that girl (Ramkissoon) dead, it seems like everybody is dying.

"They kill Darshan, they kill Daniel and now look – they gone and kill my brother."

Joseph said her brother was the father of a three-year-old girl.

When Newsday arrived, Joseph's mother, Diane Dalip had to be consoled and restrained by relatives as she cried for her murdered son.

Heavy rain delayed the processing of the crime scene as the police took shelter in cars until it subsided enough for them to continue collecting evidence.

When the rain eased, curious drivers slowed down and took photos before going ontheir way.

In a voice recording sent to Newsday via e-mail on Wednesday, St Augustine MP Khadijah Ameen said she was concerned over the murder of another Train Line Village resident and called on Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds and the Prime Minister to introduce more security measures in the community.

Ameen has been calling for a stronger police presence in Train Line Village since the murder of Aneesa Ramkissoon in March.

"We have had these murders going on and everyone is living in fear.

"We have had a number of houses burnt to the ground, and I believe the police know who is responsible and they can do something about it, and we have not had the kind of intervention that we need from the protective services.

"Throughout the St Augustine community there is also an increase in crime.

"So as I extend condolences to the Joseph family, I want to again appeal to the Minister of National Security and the Prime Minister to take action to reduce the crime and murders in our country."

As of Wednesday afternoon there had been 189 murders for the year thus far, compared to 172 for the same period last year.

There have been 48 murders for April so far.

Murders of Train Line villagers this year:

January 24

Gunmen shoot and kill schoolboy Darshan Ramnauth, 16, near his home, days shy of his 17th birthday.

Police said Ramnauth ran out of his house and into the street to check on his grandmother, as gunmen in a grey Toyota Corolla car shot after a group of men.

Also killed was Geno Shah.

Dillon Joseph was one of two men wounded in this attack.

March 3

Aneesa Ramkissoon is gunned down outside her home in the presence of her relatives including a child.

The 26-year-old was at her Train Line Road home when two gunmen barged in and shot her as she knelt. Doctors pronounced her dead on arrival at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.

Her one-month-old son, three-year-old daughter, and six-year-old son were in a bedroom of the house when she was murdered.

Police arrested one suspect in connection with her murder, but hours later, he was released.

Her sister Seema Ramkissoon said Aneesa was killed for flatly refusing to pay a “protection tax” to criminals in the area.

April 5

Daniel Riley, 21, and an unidentified man are shot dead outside Riley's home on Freeman Road, which leads into Train Line. Riley's pregnant 16-year-old girlfriend is also shot.

April 26

Dillon Joseph, 30, is gunned down at his watermelon stall on the Caroni Savannah Road.

Another vendor is shot and wounded.