A fourth suspect – a sister of one of the three men already charged – has been charged with murder in connection with the February 20 killing of a Guyanese immigrant in the New York county of Schenectady, a Times Union report said yesterday.
And the siblings’ mother also now faces four felony charges for allegedly “misleading” detectives about what she knew concerning the shooting death of Ganesh Ramgoolam, a father of two, the report said.
These are the third and fourth members of the same family to be charged in the wake of Ramgoolam’s death on a dead-end street in the Maple Avenue, New York, neighbourhood.
According to the report 21-year-old Angelene Parbhudial was arraigned on Saturday on one count of second-degree murder and three counts of felony hindering prosecution, police said.
Her mother, Omawattie D. Parbhudial, also faces four counts of hindering prosecution. Both women were sent to the Schenectady County Jail without bail.
The report said that mother and daughter were taken into custody on Friday after detectives asked them to come in for further questioning about the killing.
The report stated that Chief Assistant District Attorney Philip Mueller, said Angelene Parbhudial is alleged to have been present, armed with a baseball bat, when Ramgoolam was shot five times in the upper body and head at around 2am on February 20.
“We believe that she’s an accessory, an accomplice,” Mueller was reported as saying. “We don’t believe that she fired any gunshots.” Her brother, Vishan Parbhudial, 23, is one of three men being held in connection with the killing, the city’s first for the year.
A fourth member of the family, 24-year-old Adrian Parbhudial, allegedly opened fire on police officers with a shotgun as they raided the Parbhudial home at 935 Maple Avenue the night after Ramgoolam’s slaying.
The shotgun volley slightly injured two police officers. Adrian Parbhudial was charged with attempted first-degree murder for allegedly firing at the officers, but police have said they have so far uncovered nothing linking him to Ramgoolam’s death.
The two others charged in connection with Ramgoolam’s killing are Dhanashar Persaud, 26, of Moyston Street, and Richard T. Baliraj, 21, of Queens.
Authorities have still not spoken in detail about a motive for the killing.
“We don’t believe it to be a random shooting,” Mueller said. “We believe that the victim was part of a group that knew the group that the shooters were part of,” he added, cautioning that shouldn’t be interpreted to mean the shooting was gang-related.
Police have confirmed that they are looking into whether the shooting may be connected to a severe beating Vishan Parbhudial received outside Club Illusion on Argyle Place early on the morning of January 31.
The hindering prosecution charges against both women stem from inconsistent statements they made at various points in the investigation.
Ramgoolam, who lived in the Mount Pleasant section of the city with his family, was leaving a car when he was killed, police have said. He worked as a bus mechanic for the Capital District Transportation Authority.
