Councillor's dad: I feared for Romona's life

FRANCIS VICTOR said that behind the generosity, bright smile, willingness and commitment shown by his daughter, UNC councillor Romona Victor, to her burgesses in Siparia/San Francique, her private life was complicated and often-times violent.

So much so, that Francis said he had feared for his daughter's safety and even her life and had repeatedly warned her to be careful of her common-law husband of 16 years, Rodney Ramsumair.

On November 23, a father's worst fear came to pass when Victor found the bodies of his daughter and her husband inside their (the couple) Siparia home. Police said their investigations point to this being a murder-suicide, with Ramsumair killing Victor and then ending his own life.

Police said based on the appearance of both bodies, it appeared Victor had been dead long before Ramsumair as her body which was found on a bed under a blanket, had already begun to decompose. Ramsumair's body was found nearby in the same room. They both lived at Quinam Road, Coora Road, Siparia.

Victor was last seen alive around midday on November 21.

Sitting next to his wife in the front porch of her Victor Street, Syne Village home on November 24, the councillor's father, Francis, recalled making the gruesome discovery around 4.30 pm on November 23 when he went to visit his daughter.

Francis said Ramsumair called him around 6 am on November 22, asking him to come over at 9 am to give an estimate for some work to be done. He said he didn't visit, and around 10.30 am that day, Ramsumair visited and gave him two beers, saying to come over at 1 pm, for an important meeting with an electrician.

"He tell me, 'come, father-in-law. I want you to check that man, is something important.' I said to him, 'How important that could be?," Victor said. The grieving man said he was busy on November 22 and didn't visit, deciding to do so on November 23.

'I BAWL AND BAWL'

While on his way, Victor decided to check out his garden and started to pick some vegetables for Romona.

Outside the couple's house, he said he called out loudly to them, but heard nothing. Vehicles belonging to the couple were parked outside the house. Victor said he spied the front door open and he cautiously went inside and later found the bodies.

"From the time I gone in that room there and I see my daughter, I only knew her name Romona. Cuz the person I saw there, ain't look like my Romona nah. All I could do was start to bawl in the house," Victor said as he wiped tears from his eyes. Next to him, Romona's mother Laura kept her head bowed.

"As a parent, to walk in a room and see that, you never know what you could have done. I bawl and bawl and I ask God to give me strength."

Victor said he believes Ramsumair may have already killed his daughter on the Saturday when he (Ramsumair) kept insisting that he (Victor) had to visit them at their home. "The door being opened, like he was prepared for we to come in."

Victor said the police later confirmed that a note was found which an officer read out to him. Victor said the note was an apology from Ramsumair, who also said he could not live without Romona.

During the interview, Romona's 17-year-old son from a previous relationship, who did not live with his mother, could be heard crying inconsolably in the living room. The youth kept repeating the words: "I warned her! I warned her!"

Victor said his daughter's 16-year relationship with Ramsumair was a complicated one in which they would frequently fight with each other, only to make up.

"Dem would quarrel now and time tomorrow...dey was like hog see mud. I telling allyuh. It was so until me and the boy father, both of we and all too get fed up of it," he said, referring to Ramsumair's father.

OFFER OF A JOINT FUNERAL

As a father, Victor said, he felt it his duty to go and visit and speak to the couple whenever they had a fight. He said he constantly warned Romona of what could happen if they didn't put more effort into fixing their relationship.

"I told her, 'If allyuh can't get it right, what go happen? Dat man go kill you in the house'."

Victor said he told his daughter that if she was unable to address issues in her relationship with Ramsumair, it was better that they end it.

Romona's mother Laura, said her daughter's relationship with Ramsumair was complicated, but she never thought it would end the way it did.

Victor said knowing his daughter's fierce and independent nature, she would not have met her death willingly and would have fought to the end.

Newsday understands that autopsies on November 24 determined Victor died from blunt force trauma to the neck, while Ramsumair died by poisoning.

Victor said Ramsumair's father reached out to him on the morning of November 24 and suggested a joint funeral. He said his family has not yet decided whether they would accept the offer made by Ramsumair's father.

Ramsumair's father, Boysie, also spoke with Newsday in a separate interview in which he appealed to people not to speculate on the circumstances surrounding the death of his son and daughter in law.

Both Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles have since commented on the tragedy, extending their condolences to the families and friends of both victims.