(Trinidad Guardian) Chaguanas Mayor Faaiq Mohammed has expressed outrage at yesterday’s murder of pensioner Moonan Hardeo during a home invasion.
The 65-year-old, of Caroni Savannah Road, was killed when an armed assailant broke into his home sometime after 2 am.
The pensioner’s killing came hours after the murder of a delivery driver on Monday afternoon after he went to drop off hardware items in Piarco.
On Monday morning, businessman Syed Mohammed, a former police officer, was murdered as he was about to leave his Penal home. The murder toll stood at 581 up to yesterday.
The Chaguanas mayor, upset over the lack of respect for human life, also called for businessmen to get easy access to legal firearms.
Mohammed said, “There is a complete and utter lack of respect for our human lives in T&T. If someone wants you dead, clearly nothing or no one can stop them.
“Last night an elderly man was brutally murdered, my sincerest condolences go out to the bereaved family, especially during this time of the year.”
He said last weekend a couple was murdered, while last month a nine-year-old was gunned down. “We had home invasions of two elderly couples prior to that. What is going on?”
Meanwhile, the Hardeo family of Caroni Savannah Road, Chaguanas, was left in anguish after their loved one was killed during a home invasion on Tuesday.
Moonan Hardeo, 65, was killed when a bandit broke into the house after 2 am.
His grieving wife, Chandra Hardeo, 61, spoke to Guardian Media shortly after she returned from the Forensic Science Centre at Federation Park, Port-of-Spain, yesterday around noon where she said pathologists were still awaiting Moonan’s body to conduct an autopsy.
Hardeo recalled going into the washroom when she was alerted by her son, Vasu, and their barking dog. She said, “Vasu said like somebody in the yard again. I hear my husband saying thief, thief and with that, I hear glass mash up. When I coming out the washroom, I hear a loud sound and glass mash up, and I just lock back myself in the washroom.
“When I come out I eh hear nothing. My son was over my husband doing CPR and he say call the police, call de police and the ambulance. I going inside for the phone, he come and tell me that dad dead. I say no, no, no…then the police come.”
Hardeo said last week Tuesday the robbers entered her property and took chairs and placed them near the northern fence. She said the bandits may have attempted to climb over to enter the property of Sing Da Trading. On Wednesday the dogs were barking and they saw people running into a waiting car.
The back door through which the killer gained access into the home.
She said Moonan made a report after he visited the clinic on that day, but the police never came. “Police never come, they only come when something bad happens.” According to Hardeo, the reality of her husband’s death has not sunk in as yet. She said Vasu’s arm was damaged after he scuffled with the bandit and he was warded at the Eric Williams Medical Science Centre at Mt Hope up to late yesterday.
Basdai Santana, the deceased’s sister-in-law, said the armed assailant broke the glass of a back door, pushed his hand and turned the key left on the door to enter. She said the pensioner shared the home with his wife and son and was a former employee of Plipdeco.
Santana said Vasu and the bandit were in a scuffle when the bandit fired several shots. She said when Vasu realised his father was shot he let go of the bandit and attended to his father. Santana said, “By the time he tried to do CPR, his dad was already dead.”
She lamented the police’s failure to respond to the report made by her brother-in-law last week.