Trinidad: Mother shot dead by relative over land dispute

Chandramatie Rojan who was killed close to her parent’s home in Gasperillo on Thursday.

(Trinidad Guardian) With her husband terminally ill, Gasparillo mother Chandramatee Sammy-Rojan was shot dead in a suspected hit by a relative who may now seek to inherit her home.

Family and friends believe they know who ordered the hit and said that the killer suspects that Sammy-Rojan’s 83-year-old husband Eunos Rojan, will die soon.

According to a report, Sammy-Rojan, 43, left home along Darnead Street to pick up roti at her mother’s house a short distance away. She met her sister at the pharmacy and around 7 pm, they were walking through a track when a gunman ran up from behind and shot Sammy-Rojan several times.

The gunman ran back to the roadside and got into a Toyota Corolla Axio, which sped off.

Sammy-Rojan’s sister went screaming towards their mother’s home. By the time police and neighbours arrived, Sammy-Rojan was already dead.

Rojan told Guardian Media that the last time he saw his wife, she left home for a mother’s house to get roti. “Next thing I heard, she got shot,” Rojan said.

He recalled that some time ago, someone fired four gunshots behind his wife but he did not know why. However, Sammy-Rojan relatives said she had received threats from one of Rojan’s relative over ownership of the house. 

The woman’s relative even urged her to leave the house, however, she stayed with her family.

“Well she married to the man and he has a little money and the house. I said ‘give them the property. If they want it, give it to them’,” the relative said.

Another relative said that a few months ago, two gunmen came to their home, tied up Sammy-Rojan and covered her mouth with duct tape.

When they realised her sister was approaching, the gunmen released her. “The Tuesday that happened, on the Sunday they fired shots at my sister while she was in the gallery. It happened out the road by her husband’s house.”Officers of the Homicide Bureau of Investigations, Region Three were checking police records to see if reports of the assault were made as part of their investigation.