(Trinidad Express) A mother of two who lived in fear for months after several attempts were made on her life, and who pleaded with police for protection, was shot dead in San Fernando yesterday morning.
Crystal Harricharan, 38, of Boodoo Trace in St Margaret’s, Claxton Bay, was killed at Jarvis Street in Vistabella, near the home of a friend after she had fled her home.
Harricharan had reported to police that she was being terrorised by someone in her village whom she had fallen out with on December 31 last year. Since that falling-out, her house had been firebombed twice, shot at, and her car damaged.
Her family and a close friend said she saw these as threats to her life, and begged police to intervene. When no help came, she fled her home to keep her children and her close family members from harm.
Harricharan’s murder was captured on a private security video, which showed a gunman wearing a hoodie being dropped to the scene by a driver in a white Nissan B15.
Around 7.10 a.m. Harricharan had just entered her Suzuki SX4, which was in the car park of a business place next to her friend’s house.
A white Nissan B15 drove up and stopped in front of the friend’s house, and the gunman ran up to the driver’s side and fired several rounds at her through the window. The killer then opened the door of the car and fired several more rounds before running into the waiting vehicle, which drove away.
The friend with whom Harricharan was staying spoke to the Express but did not wish to be identified. He said he, too, was fearful for his life, as he was mere metres away when the gunman attacked.
He said Harricharan was going to drop him to his workplace at a car wash nearby, after which she would go to her family’s home to take her son and other children to school.
He said he had accompanied Harricharan on many occasions when she went to police stations within the Southern Police Division, asking officers at the stations and in the administration building in San Fernando to arrest the man she believed was stalking her. “But look how many police are here now,” the friend told the Express at the crime scene yesterday.
At her family’s home in Boodoo Trace, her parents, sisters and other family members wept or stared in disbelief over losing her. One of her sisters, Waheeda Seenath, wept as she related how Harricharan tried to protect herself and her children.
“She kept making reports (to the police) and on many occasions, she said a car was following her when she was picking up schoolchildren, so she used to hang by a friend’s house. But they find out where she staying and that’s how they catch her. She did not want to come here and put our lives in danger…,” said Seenath.
The sister recalled Harricharan’s troubles began on December 31 last year. “She had an incident with a fella on the hill. He parked his car and came out and they had a little disagreement. She told him what she told him. New Year’s night we came home, went to sleep, and we heard gunshots by her house. They shoot her window in front.
“We reported it to the police. The police did not say much. They say (they) will investigate it. On (January) 18, they firebombed the house with a flambeau. We were awake and we out the fire; the fellas ran. On the 20th they came back and tried again, and a room caught on fire. Everybody out the fire. Since then the police looking for them and he hiding,” said Seenath.
A police source told the Express the St Margaret’s Police Station was assign-ed to investigate the incidents at Harricharan’s home, and the man being sought in connection with those incidents of malicious damage had fled the area and could not be found.
Harricharan’s friend said she was anxious and frustrated over the lack of the police response. He told the Express, “She told the police ‘Like allyuh waiting for me to dead’. Officers In St Margaret’s station know what was going on. She had an incident on January 1 when her house was shot. Then her house was firebombed. They never put her in a safe house, nothing… The St Margaret’s (police) knew she was being followed.
“We realised we not getting help in St Margaret’s, so we went to Marabella (police). Marabella (police) failed us. She talked to an officer upstairs in the new building in San Fernando; three levels to go up there. She had to back home to put on shoes and long pants. She did all of that,” said the friend.
Officers of the San Fernando CID, Southern Division Task Force and Homicide Bureau of Region III responded to the scene and searches were made for the killer, getaway driver and vehicle but none were found as yet, police said.
The Express reached out to manager of corporate communications at the Police Service Joanne Archie via WhatsApp for a response to statements by Crystal Harricharan’s family that there was a lack of police action toward her reports.
Archie responded to the Express, “Crystal Harricharan of Union Village Claxton Bay, was brutally murdered this morning at Jarvis Street Vistabella whilst seated in her car. Ms Harricharan did make reports at the St Margaret’s Police Station regarding damage to her vehicle on 31st December, 2023. Her home was also firebombed. Statements were recorded from her and from witnesses and diligent efforts were made to apprehend the named suspect. Further information was received that the suspect left his home since the date of the incident and cannot been located.
“We are unable to confirm whether those earlier reports are related to the murder of Ms Harricharan. Investigations are ongoing.”
Archie stated: “The Senior Superintendent Southern Division maintained communication with Ms Harricharan regarding the investigations into her reports and instructions were given to have same expedited. Witnesses were not identified relative to the firebombing of her home.
