T&T family living in fear as son beheaded

(Trinidad Guardian)  After years of pining for each other, Rajesh Ramdeo and his lover, who was married, decided to elope earlier this month. However, the 20-year-old Claxton Bay man paid the ultimate price for his forbidden love when he was tortured, killed, decapitated and left to rot in the Moruga forests. The woman at the centre of the love triangle is now being sought by police, along with her husband. She was said to be a relative of the dead man’s mother, Shanti Boodoosingh.

Police said a week before Ramdeo went missing, his lover fled her marital home with her three-year-old son. They stayed together for one week but on September 5, Ramdeo disappeared and his lover returned home. For three weeks, Ramdeo’s relatives searched all over for him.

On Saturday their worst fears were realised when Ramdeo’s decomposed corpse was found in a track off Saunders Trace, St Mary’s Village, Moruga. His head was found about two feet from the body and some of his teeth were pulled out. His private parts were chopped off and stuffed in his mouth. A relative who requested anonymity said they were fearful for their lives since the gruesome discovery. She said a stranger called their phone on Wednesday night and promised to kill everybody.

“Right now we cannot stay in the house in peace. We are worried since we got death threats,” she added. Last April, the relative said Ramdeo was beaten and left for dead. He stayed in the hospital for two weeks recuperating from a broken leg.
Boodoosingh said she wanted protection for her family. “Right now I am thinking about my son…He did not deserve to die like this,” she said. She said Rajesh was a loving son and she often begged him to end the affair.

His brother Videsh Ramdeo said they wanted justice. “Bring the death penalty…People who torture and kill other people should be hanged,” he said. Up to late yesterday, a suspect was in custody. An autopsy will be done on Ramdeo’s body today at the Forensic Science Centre in St James. Officers from the Southern Homicide Bureau are continuing investigations.