[UPDATED] Businessman's family believes he was slain for refusing to pay 'tax'

The brother of a Chaguanas business owner believes he was killed for refusing to pay “tax” to gangsters in the area.

Kelvin Mohammed, 41, the owner of K-Chow Ice Cream Shop on Crown Trace, Enterprise was shot dead while closing his business around 8 pm on Tuesday.

Speaking with the media at the Forensic Science Centre in St James on Wednesday, his brother Ryan Ramnarace said gangsters had previously approached Mohammed to pay a tax to continue running his business.

He said it was the norm in the area.

“I know Crown Trace have plenty taxpayers. I born and grow there. They always want something from you. When you can’t give it (to them) they want to fight you and they want to rob you.”

However, Ramnarace said Mohammed refused to pay and instead approached a religious leader in the area who intervened on his behalf and assured him he would be safe.
Ramnarace said he thinks Mohammed’s refusal to pay the tax was seen as a sign of rebellion and suggested his brother was killed to send a message.

“They tried to tax him a couple of times and he stand up. We are from the area so he got in touch with certain men...and they assure him a little protection because we grew up under them as little boys so it’s not like he had to pay them for protection. They talked and helped him out.”

“(The gangsters) must be take it in a different way and they come for him and kill him. Because they ent even rob him. His pocket had money, the draw had money. They shoot him in his head and leave.”

Ramnarace said witnesses told family members a man on a bike was seen loitering nearby minutes before the shooting.

He believes the man may have vital information about Mohammed’s murder.

Ramnarace said he moved out of the area years ago and was now urging the rest of his family to do the same after Mohammed’s death.

He said the family endured a robbery scare last year when two men attempted to break into his mother’s home while his niece was there.

Ramnarace said despite this, his relatives still had not left as the family had deep roots in the area.

“It’s a little while now we ask them to move out from there. They know the situation and how it is now but we born and grow there.”

“I tell my mother ‘You done live your whole entire life, you have your little money, leave because it don’t make sense.’ They’re killing you for less than $100. If they come to rob you and you don’t have nothing they beat you up. You could loss your life still if you don’t have nothing.”

He said although the decision was difficult, he had to leave for his children’s sake.

“I have two girl children. When I get married, I wanted to come home and live and because of that environment…I never bring them there. If my mother died tomorrow and leave that place, they say never say never, but I will never go home there, even though I born and grow there and people know me there.

Because of my girls I wouldn’t go there. They ain’t ready for that life in the back there.”

Chaguanas chamber: business owners scared

Head of the Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CCIC) Baldath Maharaj said information reaching him was that Mohammed’s murder “had to do with protection money.”

He said while he could not speak directly to the situation in Crown Trace, he knew it was still a problem in the Montrose, Chaguanas area.

He said businessmen in that area lived in fear and had even cancelled media interviews organised to address the issue as they worried about the possible repercussions.

“What these people tend to do, they know your business inside out. They know where you live.

They know where children go to school. They know where your wife works or what time they go at a certain spot. And that is the information they tend to use to instil some level of fear.”

He said once a business owner began paying protection money, it was difficult to stop as that would make the problem worse.

At the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) annual economic outlook conference in January, it was revealed that nine per cent of the respondents in an annual business survey said either they or their company had been threatened or coerced to pay “protection money” to avoid harm or damage to their business through criminal activities in the past year.

The survey respondents included business-unit heads and directors from 11 industries across TT.
Maharaj said while the CCIC was willing to work with the police, business owners had told him they did not have enough confidence in the service.

“They still believe there are few elements in the police service who might not be noble (and) that there might be one or two in there who could share information.”

He said the fear was so overwhelming that some business owners saw the situation as “life and death” and refused to take any action.

“It’s not just the crime itself, but it’s the fear of crime that would last for years and years and years before something might even happen. Because these people threatening you and threatening you and threatening you until something goes wrong, and then they become violent.”

Police taking extortion reports seriously

Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police, Intelligence and Investigation Curt Simon told Newsday police were looking into reports of extortion and taking it “very seriously.”

He said while the term “extortion” was not on the law books, it was covered under the crime of demanding money by menace.

The crime carries a penalty of fifteen years imprisonment.

Simon said police were doing things to address victims’ fears and to boost their confidence in the police.

“We have had meetings within our establishment to sensitise police officers to the taking and dealing with these reports while we have our specialised units reacting to the report and to the intelligence that we are gathering as it relates to demanding money by menaces, commonly called extortion.”

He said while it was the first time he had heard of the incident in Crown Trace, police were trying “to stymie the spread of this offence within this country.”

Homicide Division head Rishi Singh said Mohammed’s death was still being investigated and the possibility of extortion as a motive would be examined.

He urged people who might be victims of extortion to reach out to the police before the situation escalated.

“Please reach out and let somebody know before. Even if you don’t want to engage in a formal reporting, at least share the information with law enforcement so that we will be able to be aware of this type of conduct and take steps to certainly limit citizens from suffering at the hands of these miscreants.”

This story has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

The brother of a Chaguanas business owner believes he was killed for refusing to pay “tax” to gangsters in the area.

Kelvin Mohammed, the owner of K-Chow Ice Cream Shop on Crown Trace, Enterprise was shot dead while closing his business around 8 pm on February 20.

Speaking with the media at the Forensic Science Centre in St James on February 21, his brother Ryan Ramnarace said gangsters had previously approached Mohammed to pay a tax to continue running his business.

Ramnarace said having grown up in the area, Mohammed approached a religious leader who was able to “intervene” and assured him of his safety.

He added, witnesses told family members, minutes before the shooting, a man on a bike was seen loitering nearby.

He said they believe the man may have vital information about Mohammed's murder.

Ramnarace said he moved out of the area years ago and is now urging the rest of his family to do the same after Mohammed’s death.