Pain for Penal pensioner: 2 sons murdered in 7 months

For the second time in seven months, 81-year-old pensioner Ramrajiya “Ramrajee” Beharry of Penal sensed something was wrong, only to be told another of her sons had been murdered.

Around 12.35 am on February 24, Lucky “Pam” Jagdeo, 60, was found dead in a river near the San Francique Sports, Educational and Cultural Council, commonly referred to as Sansecc Complex, at San Francique Road.

He was unmarried and had no children.

A villager has been detained.

“They should jail him for killing my son.

"Pam was a good boy. He did not interfere with anyone. Even when he drank, he never bothered anyone,” Beharry said.

The police said Jagdeo and the suspect were among a group of people liming under a shed at the complex.

The two began arguing and Jagdeo was kicked and cuffed. People began scatttering away from the fight.

Jagdeo’s body was later found about 15 feet from the shed on the riverbank. His head was partially submerged in the water.

He was only wearing a T-shirt.

Jagdeo lived with his mother and other relatives at Ramnarine Trace in San Francique.

On the brink of tears, the grieving mother recalled he had left home on the morning of February 23 on his bike to sell items from his garden.

She recalled that she became worried when he did not return by 7 pm. The mother of five added that she woke up from sleep during the night and still did not see him.

“I looked around the house, in the hammock, and did not see him. I called my daughter and told her he still had not returned. She called his cellphone and it rang, but no one answered. She called again, and the phone was switched off,” Beharry told Newsday.

The news came when a male relative heard a villager was beating Jagdeo. Relatives immediately went to check on him.

When they arrived, they learnt his body had been found by the nearby river.

Penal police and other officers from South Western Division and the Homicide Bureau of Investigations, Region Three, also responded and gathered evidence.

On July 7, 2024, another of Beharry’s sons, Anthony Sahadeo James, 49, also called Boom Champion, was found dead with a head wound at his home next door.

His mother had not seen or heard from him during the day, which she described as strange. She went to check on him and found his body on a mattress.

James, the father of two, lived alone in a one-room galvanised and wooden structure.

Beharry's surviving son, Ramsumair Jagdeo, said: “We want justice for both of them. Boom Champion was murdered and nothing has come out of that.

"We cannot handle those murders. It is too much. When is my time to go, I do not want to go like that. I want the Lord to take me.”

Besides the murders, another of Beharry’s sons was killed in a car crash about 20 years ago in La Romaine.

Beharry turns 82 in March and has two surviving adult children.

A villager, Balliram Lookoor, aka Jokhan, described the suspect in Jagdeo’s murder as a bully.

Lookoor, 57, told Newsday he had been physically assaulted at least three times within the last three years, but did not go to the police.

Investigations are ongoing.