Dorothy Drepaul-Mangrie, 68, whose body was discovered in a trench at Maida Farm, Corentyne earlier this month had reportedly become mentally unstable after her only son, wanted for several murders, had been killed by the police during a shoot-out.
Mangrie of Kilmarnock had been living with one relative after the other and last stayed at the home of a brother [who lived overseas]. She eventually moved out and started staying in an old van in her brother’s yard.
She had gone into a state of depression after her son, Lewis Ramsarran, was shot dead about 27 years ago at his hideout – in a small shack – which was also set alight.
He was also a part of a gang and was also wanted in connection with a number of robberies.
He had been in hiding for a few years but had gone to the shack several weeks before the police were “tipped off,” relatives recalled.
Mangrie who also started to consume a lot of alcohol received treatment for her condition but it worsened. Relatives said that although she knew that her son was wanted by the police she did not turn him in and was apparently in denial about his actions.
They said that the lawmen had surrounded Ramsarran’s shack and ordered him to come out but he refused.
An exchange of gunfire ensued and a police officer was injured in the process.
He continued to fire at the ranks and eventually “crawled out on his stomach” with the gun in his hand and was hit. Police were transporting him to the New Amsterdam Hospital when he succumbed.
The relatives recalled too that the man became notorious after he ran behind a resident, Johnson, and chopped him to death following an argument over a dog.
One of his elderly relatives, Oscar Deonarine who witnessed the chopping and was trying to rescue the resident was also killed at the same time because he rebuked Ramsarran.
Subsequently, he allegedly murdered several other relatives who witnessed the first two killings.
He had been hiding out in the backlands for a long time and had only gone to the shack a few weeks before he met his end.
Reports are that his mother had been in the United States of America and had returned shortly before he was killed.
His relatives later learnt that he used to steal women’s wigs and clothing, which he wore as a disguise when he went out in the community. A relative recalled that while he was hiding in the backlands he went to the home of her mother late one night and asked for tea and a loaf of bread. She said her mother complied but begged him not to return because she was afraid.
She never heard about him again until he was dead.
The woman who had been consuming alcohol on an evening two weeks ago was last seen alive around 9 pm while walking along the road.
Her body was discovered around 6 am on Wednesday. Residents described her as a nice woman.
