Six persons have been taken into custody as police in Berbice intensify their investigation into the killing of a United States-based resident at Clifton Settlement, Corentyne on Wednesday.
At around 7:30 pm, two masked gunmen entered the yard where Roopnarine Ramodit, 59, was sitting with another man and inflicted a single gunshot wound to his abdomen. Ramodit was rushed to the Port Mourant Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. By that time the gunmen made off with a “fat” gold chain he was wearing and escaped in the direction of an abandoned rice field.
Ramodit and his wife, Loopwatie ‘Baab’ Ramodit, 54, of Minnesota, arrived in the country on Wednesday morning, a few hours before the shooting took place “for a few days’ vacation.”
The couple, originally from No. 48 Village, was staying at the home of Loopwatie’s relatives, Raymond ‘Jack’ David, 49 and his wife, Dawatie, 48. It was the first time they were staying in the area.
When this newspaper arrived at the home yesterday morning David had collapsed and had to be rushed to the Port Mourant Hospital. A neighbour, Wazir ‘Herbs’ Khan was sitting on a bench in the yard with the victim and he “plunged down on the ground” after he heard the shot. Khan had also accompanied the Davids to the airport to pick up the couple. Loopwatie told Stabroek News that she had just served her husband a plate of curried chicken and dhall puri. She had gone back into the kitchen to get a plate of food for Khan when tragedy struck.
She recalled that she was talking to Raymond and Dawatie when a masked gunman appeared at the door and ordered them to be quiet.
Immediately after that she heard the shot and man at the door ran away. It was then that she realized that another gunman was in the yard. She felt the shot was fired while the gunman was trying to grab her husband’s chain. He had just taken a shower and was dressed in his shorts and vest.
Police had earlier received reports that the man’s wallet with money was stolen but it was later found in the house.
Loopwatie rushed out of the house and saw her husband lying on the ground bleeding.
The grieving woman said her husband’s intestines were protruding and she tried in vain to “push them in back.” She also told him, “Please don’t give up, you would be ok” and recounted that he tried to tell her something but was unable to talk.
In tears, the woman lamented that her husband was a “simple, loving and religious person. He never hurt nobody’s feelings.”
Loopwatie said too that the gunmen were “heartless. They should have taken everything and leave him alone. They don’t know him from anywhere and they come and kill him….”
According to her, she and her husband had originally planned a vacation for Florida but she persuaded him to come to Guyana instead. She said he always said he “wanted to see his five grandchildren get marry.”
Dawatie told this newspaper that they were dumbstruck when they saw the gunman appearing at the doorway. She heard him say “come, come” but they did not move.
Ramodit, who worked with a shipping company in the US, was the last of nine siblings. His brother, Thackoordin Ramodit, 62 of No. 63 Village said Ramodit left Guyana in the 80s and had returned in 2000 for a funeral.
He said his brother was a “peaceful and ordinary man” and he could not understand why anyone would want to murder him. His brother and sister-in-law were planning to visit him yesterday morning.
Neighbours told this newspaper they heard the loud explosion and thought it was from a firecracker. A woman said she heard Loopwatie screaming and shouting for her husband and he ran out with a cutlass. The gunmen had already fled by then.
Another woman said she and her son were standing in the yard during the shooting but did not realize what was happening until they saw the two gunmen running down the street.
Afraid for their lives, they ran indoors and locked up. They only came out again when the police arrived to conduct investigations. According to a resident, other overseas-based Guyanese were also staying with relatives in the street and he felt that the couple could have been targeted. He said too that “Port Mourant has the most foreigners visiting Berbice and this place needs protection.”
