Trinidad woman, 75, dies after burglar beats her for pension

(Trinidad Express) The burglar-proofed windows and steel doors which 75-year-old Freeport pensioner Lutchmin Bickram lived behind were not enough to secure her from a criminal on Friday.
Bickram, a mother of two and grandmother of five, had just returned home from a bank where she cashed her pension cheque when she was confronted by an intruder in her bedroom around 3.45 p.m.
The petite grandmother was no match for the man who had invaded her home. He hit her and shook her violently and she fell to floor of her bedroom.
The bandit then ran off with her purse containing $3,700 and her identification cards.
Following the violent confrontation, Bickram died at the San Fernando General Hospital on Saturday.
At Bickram’s home on Singh Avenue, Calcutta #Two yesterday, her daughter, Radha Lall, told the Express the house had been burgled numerous times but this was the first time her mother had come face-to-face with a criminal.
Lall’s husband, Reynold Sirjoo, said the intruder entered the house through a steel door near the kitchen which was not properly installed.
“The person had to have known that the door was a vulnerable area to gain access to the house,” said Sirjoo.
Lall said at the hospital, her mother was able to give police officers a statement on the attack.
“She told the police that the person was waiting for her in the bedroom. She could not fight. She was a petite person, just a tiny old lady,” said her daughter. “After he shook her up, she managed to call out to a tenant downstairs for help.”
Lall said her mother did not have valuables as her jewellery and other household items had been stolen during previous burglaries.
Despite the thefts, the elderly woman preferred to remain at her house, said her daughter.
“I have lost count of the number of times people have broken in here and taken things. They stole all her jewellery, stole my jewellery and so many things. She was a caring and spiritual person, so she said she would say her prayers and stay here,” said Lall.
Bickram lived on the upper floor of the house, while a family of eight lived on the ground floor.
Lall said her mother’s caring nature extended to the family as she assisted them with meals and did not charge them rent.
While at the hospital, Bickram suffered three heart attacks, her daughter said.
Bickram died at the hospital on Saturday at around midday.
Lall said the police officers who have spoken to her since her mother’s death told her they await the results of the autopsy but it is expected that the case will be classified as a homicide.
An autopsy is expected to be done this week at the Forensic Science Centre in St James.
“The state of this country is so sad. We, the simple people out here, are working tirelessly, giving of ourselves. I pray and hope that justice will be served,” Lall said.
Member of Parliament for Couva South Rudranath Indarsingh visited Lall, whom he knew as an employee at the UNC’s former headquarters in Couva.
Indarsingh recalled that Government had announced a special squad of police officers would be established to deal with home invasions.
“(But) home invasions continue to occur in every nook and cranny of our country without abatement. If you ask the police stations, they will tell you that there is no special unit to deal with home invasions,” he told the Express.