Cousins killed for jewellery in Matura triple murder

A relative of three cousins who were killed in a home invasion in Matura on June 23 says the trio were killed for their jewellery.

Police said around 1.15 am, Sherwyn McFarlane, 17, Andre Maloney, 21, Malcolm Richardson, 21, and Rick Sookdeo, 30, were at a house on Mendoza Street when four gunmen shot them.

Officers from the Eastern Division Task Force and Matura Police Station responded to calls by residents and found the four men.

Sookdeo survived and was taken to the hospital. The district medical officer declared Maloney, Richardson and McFarlane dead.

A relative told Newsday the four men were liming at the house when gunmen dressed in long pants, long-sleeved hoodies and masks entered and announced a robbery.

The relative said the bandits demanded all their jewellery and money and threatened everyone.

She said although the men handed over their belongings, the bandits fired several shots before running out of the house, hitting the four men.

The relative said she couldn’t understand why the bandits shot them.

“If they come to rob the guys and they give up the (jewellery) and they never put up no fight, what is the reason they kill them? They was innocent.”

She said it was well known the family had several pieces of jewellery, as there was a mini-mart at the front of the house and the family always wore their jewellery when they were home.

“When we are at home, we wear our jewellery, because I believe that's the best place to wear jewellery, rather than going out wearing your jewellery.

“That supposed to be the safest place to wear your gold. If you can’t even wear it home now, then where else you could wear it?”

She said despite that, they never expected anyone to try to rob them, as the family was not wealthy by any means.

“It's just a mini-mart we have. We never expected anything like this, because we never had nothing with nobody. When you have a business, it's not to have enemies, because you have a business and anybody could come there. So that's why we live good with everyone.”

She said McFarlane, who was still a child, spent his time playing with the younger children in the family.

“If they want to pop popcorn, they go call him and he will go. They want to go and play in the savannah, he going with them. He was always friendly. Anything they asked him to do, he will do it.”

She said Maloney was a great cook and her last memory of him was him in the kitchen.

“The day before (he died) Andre cook a pelau without meat and it taste so good. We kept complimenting him about that pelau and I told him I finally could get to taste his hand.”

She said their deaths were painful, adding, “It hurts. It must hurt me. I can't feel no other way but in pain.”

She said she has little hope the government could fix the crime situation.

“I wish, but I am not hopeful. I really wish it would get better.

“The government not doing the work they need to. Probably if the government assist, then the crime rate will go down.”

The relative said she would leave justice “in the hands of the Lord.”

She called on the National Security Minister and Police Commissioner to get a grip on crime, saying people were “dying for no reason,” and urged them to “try their best and deal with it.”