Brother of slain Moruga businessman: He was my hero

RISHI Gunness wept as he spoke about the brutal slaying of his youngest brother Rakesh Gunness, proprietor of Quick E Supermarket, whom he hero worshipped.

At the family’s home at Petite Café, Moruga, a stone’s throw away from where Gunness, 42, was mercilessly gunned down as he sat in his car, a white AD Wagon PCL 5823, on Saturday night, Rishi said Gunness saved him when he lost his job as an IT Technician at Petrotrin in 2018.

“I did not know what to do. I had a wife and two children to care for, and a mortgage to pay for my house. Working for a few years at Petrotrin, what I got was not sufficient to take care of all my expenses.

“When the company shut down, Rakesh invited me to come and work in the supermarket to help my family,” he said as he broke down in tears.

“I came across and I was able to establish my own electronic store from there, for my family to survive.

“Because of him, I am here today. I did not have a plan after Petrotrin. Now I don’t know what the future holds. I just feel to pack up and leave the country because I am thinking about my children. I don’t want them to end up like their uncle.”

Pained by the tragic death, Rishi said he had come to the conclusion that, “Trinidad is not a nice place.

“Trinidad is not a real place. It has become too violent, too divided and we need to stand up and do something to stop this crime.”

He said he did not want to cast blame on the police as he believed they were trying to get a handle on the scourge. But, he said, a collective effort must take place from the top to the bottom if TT was to return to the paradise it once was.

Gunness was the last of four children, three boys and one girl. The supermarket was jointly owned by sister, Shalini, and Rakesh, while the other brothers established individually, an agriculture and electronic shop.

Rishi said it was not the first time the family-owned business had been targeted. He said he himself had been shot during a robbery on Carnival Friday night in 2019.

He said there were numerous reports of attacks against the businesses as well as death threats against his brother.

Nothing was stolen from the vehicle or the victim, leading the police to suspect it may have been a direct hit on his life. However, both Rishi and Shalini said they did not know why anyone would want Gunness killed.

Shalini recalled that around 7.30 pm, after a hard day’s work, her brother was leaving the business to go home.

“He was engaged to be married in August and he was leaving to go by his fiancée.

“He was in the car, already buckled up and ready to reverse out of the yard when two men came out of the teak trees and started shooting up the car. They shot him and escaped.”

Rishi who lives next door, heard the shots, and rushed over to his family’s home.

“I got frightened. I heard one, two, three and then I heard four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten shots fired in rapid succession.

“When I came across, I heard mummy crying.”

He said they rushed over to the vehicle where they saw Gunness bleeding from bullet wounds. He was placed in one of the family’s vehicles and was being taken to the Princes Town District Health facility, but he died on the way there.

Shalini said her brother was a fun-loving and caring person who provided employment for people in the neighbourhood and helped those in need.

“He was an innocent victim,” she said.

Homicide Region 3 is continuing investigations.