(Trinidad Express) Videsh Dookran, 15, left his family’s home in Golconda telling his mother that he was going to a ‘cook’ at a relative’s house on Saturday afternoon.
The next time Dookran’s mother saw his face was when she was asked by police to identify a body.
Police officers followed an anonymous tip-off and found the body hidden in an outhouse metres away from Dookran’s family’s house in Church Street, Golconda.
Devika Seebaran, a mother of four, told the Express yesterday she remains in shock over the death of her teenage son, describing him as “a nice child who does not tell anyone anything, or do anyone anything”.
“He did not deserve this,” Seebaran said.
A condolence message to Videsh’s bereaved family from Education Minister Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, and minister in the ministry Lisa Morris-Julian was posted on the education ministry’s social media pages and read:
“The former Form Three student of Ste Madeleine Secondary School met an untimely passing on the 8th of October, 2022. The death of any young person is a loss to Trinidad and Tobago’s future. May Videsh’s soul rest in peace.”
Police received an anonymous tip-off from a woman on Sunday around 6.50 a.m. that a body was hidden in an abandoned house behind a poultry shop in Golconda, near Ste Madeleine.
The woman reported that her two young children, aged 14 and seven, told her that around 3 p.m. on Saturday they were with two brothers and Videsh.
She reported that one of the brothers, who was armed with a firearm, shot Videsh.
The body was taken to a wooden blue house located behind poultry depot Classic Pluck Shop in Cipero Road, Golconda, the woman reported.
The police report said officers discovered the body lying motionless on his left side in a foetal position.
Officers of the Homicide Bureau of Region III ASP Persad, Insp Ribero, Cpl Deo and Marsh, WPCs Mohammed and La Rode, as well as Insp Lewis and W/Sgt Bassarath of the Southern Police Division also responded.
A district medical officer found that the body bore a wound to the chest, which appeared to be a gunshot wound.
Seebaran told the Express that on Saturday around 2 p.m., her son ran an errand for her, then told her he was going to a house nearby.
“I sent him to buy two chickens for me. Then he went by the house to make a cook. He walked down the road with a relative. I heard they cooked iguana. I did not see him again,” she said.
The mother said when he did not come home that night she thought it was strange.
“I was worried. His phone is not working. I was at home looking out for him. Then the police came around 9 o’clock the next morning. The police came direct to my home and asked me if this is my son. They showed me photos and I identified him. I was very shocked. I did not expect something like this to happen to my son. They told me they found the body in a hole behind a toilet behind an abandoned house,” she said.
“At this time, I am not functioning too well. This is my child and I am missing him. I want justice for what has happened,” said the mother.
Cpl Marsh of the Homicide Bureau of Region III is continuing investigations.
