(Trinidad Guardian) In early 2018, businessman Richard Ramkissoon had a brush with death when he was shot during a botched robbery.
The incident had a profound impact on Ramkissoon’s wife, regional economist Marla Dukharan, who migrated to Barbados.
On Friday, six years later, the family’s worst fears materialised when Ramkissoon, who stayed behind to run his wholesale ‘Superstore’ in Arima, was killed during a home invasion at Crescent Drive, Mausica, D’Abadie.
According to reports, the home invasion took place around 3 am on Friday.
Six men armed with cutlasses and guns, reportedly poisoned the family’s two pitbulls before scaling the nine-foot wall with barbed wire surrounding the property.
They then used a ladder to gain access through a second-storey window.
The men beat Ramkissoon as they demanded that he hand over cash, jewelry and other valuables.
They also tied up Ramkissoon’s son and daughter (who were vacationing with him) and a companion.
After the intruders left with the items they stole, Ramkissoon’s children and the companion checked on the 46-year-old businessman.
Ramkissoon, who had been badly beaten, was taken to Medical Associates Hospital in St Joseph, where he died while undergoing emergency treatment.
In July 2020, Barbados-based newspaper columnist BC Pires featured Dukharan in his weekly column in the T&T Newsday.
In the interview, Dukharan revealed details of the first attack and how it impacted her decision to migrate.
Dukharan admitted that she was paranoid since the first attack on her husband.
She stated that around 4.30 pm on February 20, 2018, her husband was driving out of his compound when a car blocked his.
She claimed that the men were after the cash deposit for his business, which he did not have on him at the time.
The men shot him at point-blank range with the bullet entering his left side, going across his abdomen before remaining lodged in his hip.
At the time, Dukharan stated that the bullet had not been removed.
She credited her husband’s cousin, Dr Faisal Daniel, and surgeon, Prof Vijay Naraynsingh, for saving her husband’s life.
“Vijay Naraynsingh had to take my husband’s intestines completely out of his body and go through 22 feet of intestines, inch by inch, holding them up to the light, to make sure there was no perforation,” she said.
She suggested that the country’s homicide rate was determined by two factors—the level of violent crime and the level of healthcare afforded to the victims.
“With poor healthcare, you have a greater chance of violent crime ending up as a homicide statistic,” she said.
“The sad thing about T&T is that the majority of people who get shot would not have the care and attention Richard got,” she added.
She admitted that when she returned to Trinidad periodically, she had to take medication to help her sleep.
“I lie in bed and, every noise, I feel somebody is coming to get me,” she said.
“I don’t think about these things in Barbados,” she added.
Dukharan also revealed the impact of the first attack on her son and daughter.
“My children now recognise T&T as a broken place (that let) something like this happens to their father and no one be held to account,” she said.
“They associated Trinidad with pain, insecurity and fear,” she added.
The children were discharged from the hospital but remain traumatised, relatives said.
Guardian Media reached out to Dukharan via WhatsApp yesterday and she responded, “Sorry, no comment.”
Relatives, who spoke with Guardian Media, indicated that Dukharan was expected to arrive in Trinidad yesterday.
Investigations are continuing.
