(Trinidad Express) A man who chased after two suspected criminals, who moments earlier chopped and robbed his relatives on Thursday, running them over with his car, was in police custody last night.
The 53-year-old man was detained by police, after one of the suspects, Keston Contrere, died at hospital.
The second man was beaten by vigilantes who tied him to a van and stood guard until the police arrived.
The suspects, armed with cutlasses, entered a house at Old Clarke Road, Barrackpore, around 5.20 p.m. on Thursday.
Nesha Alexander, 28, and her two children—Kevin, eleven, and Kaitlyn, four—were in the kitchen.
Her husband, Roger Narine Hosein, was asleep in a bedroom.
Alexander’s mother, Angela Ali, said “She was by me, two houses away, and then left to come home around 4.30 p.m. Nesha said she and the children were in the kitchen when she heard a click on the door.
“Then two men ran in and began demanding money and jewelry.
“One of the men ran into the bedroom and started chopping ‘Lils’, that’s how we call Roger. He couldn’t retaliate because he was sleeping,” she said.
Ali, 48, said her daughter and grandchildren were locked into a bathroom while the men ransacked the house and stole jewellery, cellphones and clothing.
“My daughter was beaten on the head with the cutlass. And one of the men began choking her son and asking him for the jewelry. They even tried to hit the little child, but Nesha blocked them. I cannot understand why they took her clothes, even her underwear,” she said.
Hosein, a 24-year-old fish vendor, was chopped multiple times in the face and head. He remains in critical condition at the San Fernando General Hospital.
“After the men left the house, my daughter ran out screaming that someone just killed Lils. We thought he was dead,” she said.
A male relative, who heard the woman’s screams, ran to his car and chased after the men.
According to Ali, “He (the driver) found the men a short distance down the road. And when they saw his car they began waving the cutlass in the air and demanding that he stop. I think they were trying to get a car to escape. But he drove the car into them. The bandits got up and ran into the lagoon. (The relative) jumped out of the car and ran after the men. He was beaten with the cutlass. But some other villagers came and helped him drag out one of the bandits,” Ali said.
By the time police arrived one of the suspect was captured and tied to a van. The officers went into the lagoon and fished out the second man, who was unconscious. He was pronounced dead at the Princes Town Health Facility.
The dead man was identified as 26-year-old Contrere, of King Street, Princes Town. His 23-year-old accomplice was under police guard at hospital last evening.
Ali said, “I cannot understand why the police held (the relative) who went after the bandits. If the police don’t want to do their job, then they should allow other people to do it. He was trying to protect Nesha and I don’t think he was wrong. He was taken into custody last night and we don’t know what is happening. They said a man died and they need to do their investigations.”
Alexander’s home was ransacked. The bedroom’s floor, mattress and towel were stained with Hosein’s blood. Ali said Hosein moved in with her daughter several months ago.
Alexander’s marriage, with the children’s father, ended three years ago.
“But we still had a good relationship with her husband. He would come and look for us and the children went by him every other weekend. I cannot understand why these people targeted my daughter’s house,” she said.
Ali said her grandchildren were traumatised.
“They are not talking. My grandson is in pain because they choke him,” she said.