Dead is Balram Jadoonauth, a taxi driver attached to the GR Taxi service located at the corner of Sheriff and Pike streets. According to a police release, Jadoonauth was discovered with a gunshot injury to his back after his car crashed into a utility pole a few houses away from his home.
Reports are that the police later arrested the prime suspect at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri.
According to the man’s father, Lomash Jadoonauth, around 3:30 am yesterday he was awakened by what sounded like two gunshots during which he heard a vehicle coming to a screeching halt. Minutes later the car raced up the street heading in the direction of Sherriff Street but he noted, ’’I thought it was my son because that’s when he would have been home but he was actually driving away from them (the gunman)”.
He said that he immediately became concerned and was subsequently told by the police that his son was involved in an accident but he noted that other persons told him that his son was shot. He said that he proceeded to the Georgetown Public Hospital shortly after and the medical staff later informed him that his son had been shot twice to his upper body and that he was pronounced dead on arrival at the medical institution.
The man said that his son’s jewellery, cash and other valuables were intact, and he added that the chain he wore at the time was expensive. “He had on everything so I already know something wrong there”, the man stated.
The grieving man said that the family later drew their suspicions following threats which his son had received from a man recently.
The father explained that Balram had been in a relationship with a young woman over the past several months and according to him, earlier this year his son discovered that the young woman was married. He said that the family confronted her about the issue. ”She tell we that she and the man break up and that he was a drunkard and that he went away long and ain’t had time with she“, the man stated. He said that his son grew even more worried after he received several text messages on his mobile phone from the man with whom the woman previously shared a relationship and according to him, “the man even come here a day and ask for she …so is like he wanted to know where my son live”. He said that he spoke to the man about the issue and according to him, the man indicated that he was not interested in the young woman anymore.
The elder Jadoonauth stated that sometime last month, his son began receiving the text messages in which the man would indicate that the relationship between him and the woman was over. In one of the messages which the young man’s phone received on the 25th of March and which was seen by this newspaper, the sender indicated that the relationship between him and the woman was over and he wished Jadoonauth good luck.
However, the young man’s father noted, ”what he was trying to do is to threaten my son because he keep saying that they should move on and the more he sending these messages is more worried my son use to get”.
The man said that his son started working as a taxi driver some six months ago and he noted that he was a calm and quiet individual. He said his son was a talented musician and a devout member of the Hindu community, noting that he would teach others to play musical instruments while at the mandir.
According to reports, during the course of their investigations yesterday, the police arrested the suspect at the airport after making several checks at his home. Reports are that the man indicated to the ranks that he went to the airport to collect a relative.
When this newspaper visited the family’s home yesterday, scores of relatives turned up to sympathise with the family as many recounted the times they shared with the man. He leaves to mourn his parents and two sisters.
