(Trinidad Express) Farmer Terry Bahal was shot dead as he attempted to escape bandits who ambushed him as he drove into his garage on Tuesday night.
His wife, Christie, was severely chopped on the head and back in the attack.
Bahal, 39, was the president of the Caparo Valley Farmers Association and the brother of Dhano Sookoo, president of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago.
The incident occurred as the couple was driving into the garage at its Todds Station Road, Todds Road, Caparo, home around 9.15 p.m.
Police said Christie came out of her husband’s black Ford Ranger van and was opening the front gate when she noticed two men in dark clothing. She raised and alarm and Bahal jumped out of the van, police said.
The men were armed with a gun and cutlass.
Police said Bahal was ordered to hand over the keys to his van. There was a struggle and Bahal was chopped in the neck. He attempted to run and was shot three times in the neck, back and chest.
Bahal’s wife was grabbed by the head and chopped several times, police said.
The suspects escaped without the vehicle.
The couple’s 15-year-old son, Christopher, who was inside the house when the incident occurred, ran out and found his parents bleeding on the roadway.
The teenager alerted relatives who took the couple to the Chaguanas Health Facility.
Bahal was pronounced dead on arrival. His wife was transferred to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, where she remains in stable condition.
Sookoo, who identified her brother’s body at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, said Bahal had a deep passion for agriculture.
She said, “The Government needs to stop the lip service and get down to working for the honest citizens in this country. He had a deep passion for agriculture and I must say that he was one of the better farmers in this country and actually he had just gotten through with NAMDEVCO (The National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation) to produce cassava soup packs.”
Sookoo said her brother was a people’s person and always very supportive of the farming community. “He was also a very community-oriented person. Whatever the stress, Terry was always there for anyone. He always stood for farmers and always wanted to see them treated justly,” she said.
Sookoo said everything her brother did was out of his heart and not for money. “This country has lost one of its budding entrepreneurs, a true son of the sector (farming), one who did it to contribute to the betterment of this country. At this point in time, I am really saddened to be a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago because my brother was the kind of man who wanted to make this place better. So I need to ask: do we have the capacity to take control of the crime situation in this country?”
Investigations are continuing into the crime.
The murder toll for the year to date is 248.
