(Trinidad Express) An attempt to get help for his uncle, who was shot during an attempted robbery, ended in the death of a 14-year-old boy at the hands of a gunman on Saturday night.
Akesh Sooklal, a Cunupia Secondary School pupil, was shot in his head by an accomplice of the bandit who attempted to rob his 27-year-old uncle, Basdeo “Shorts” Siewah of his Nissan Wingroad car customised with Lamborghini doors.
The incident occurred shortly after 10 p.m. along Mary Ellen Street, Kelly Village, Caroni where the family lives. Siewah, survived the attack and is listed in a satisfactory condition at the Mt Hope Hospital.
When the Express visited the scene yesterday, Akesh’s mother Deveeka Sooklal, 30, related the events leading up to the eldest of her four children being murdered.
“Me, my mom, my sister-in-law and brother (Siewah) were in the front yard,” Deveeka said.
“My brother had now parked his car and he came and was sitting with us outside. My son (Akesh) was upstairs in the gallery with my baby. While we were talking, this guy came walking down the road with a pouch to the front and just pulled out a gun and put it behind my brother’s neck.”
Deveeka said the man ordered Siewah, a contractor with Blue Waters, to hand over his car keys, chain and cellular phone and Siewah complied.
“The fellah was trying to start the car but the car wasn’t starting. He called my brother and said ‘come and start this (so and so) car right now’. My brother went but the car wasn’t starting. The guy clicked the gun and just started cursing. He shot my brother three times.
“When he fall to the ground my son saw and ran down the back step with my baby and gave my sister-in-law the baby and was running up the road saying ‘Somebody come out please. They now shoot my Uncle Shorts. Bandit in the yard’.
“A fellah who was parked in a van up the road shoot him (Akesh) in he head.”
Deveeka said Akesh was preparing for the opening of the new school term in September. She said he took up a construction job at the start of the holidays and he wanted to buy a pair of Clarks shoes to attend school.
“He always wanted a Clarks to go to school. Yesterday (Saturday) his aunt and uncle carry him Chaguanas to buy it but, because it was TT$750, he decided to go and buy these things.” Deveeka held in her arms the two school shirts, two school pants, two tee-shirts and book bag her son purchased instead of the Clarks shoes.
“He didn’t even get a chance to wear them.”
Deveeka said Akesh, also called “Daniel” and “Scotty”, was a child who never gave her any problems.
“He loved to mind animals. Right now he have two ducks in the back. He build a pen for the ducks and some chickens. One of the duck foot break but he wouldn’t give up on the duck. He would see about them every day.
“Last night (Saturday) I wasn’t feeling good and he offered to buy a Gatorade for me. He went and buy it and two paracetamol (tablets). When he bring it I told him to go upstairs because I didn’t want him downstairs.”
Siewah’s wife of seven years, Cherry-Ann Siewah, said her back was turned to the road when the gunman approached the father of two.
“The guy was in a black jeans and a white tee-shirt,” Cherry-Ann said.
“He had something in his hand and he pulled something on the top and it made a noise. That is when I realised it was a gun.” She said the man only spoke to her husband.
Siewah, she said, was shot three times to the left side of his body but his injuries are not life threatening.
“One of the bullets shattered inside him and one went straight through and he also got a shot to his elbow straight through the joint.
“I froze. I didn’t even move. It was when she (my sister-in-law Deveeka) started to scream that is when I ketch myself and get up and run behind them.”
Akesh and Siewah were rushed to the Mt Hope Hospital but Akesh died while undergoing a scan to his head in preparation for surgery.
Members of the family were being counselled yesterday by officers of the Victim Support Unit (VSU).
Head of the Central Division, Snr Supt Deodath Dulalchan, is spearheading investigations. Other officers at the scene included ASP Galindo of the Homicide Bureau, ASP Edwards and Inspector Laverne.
Akesh’s killing, along with three others which occurred over the weekend, has brought the murder toll to 234.
