(Trinidad Express) Relatives of two young men found dead in Sea Lots on Sunday evening confirmed their identities yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre, Federation Park.
They were Rykeel Dookna, 18, of Cumberbatch Street, Arouca, and Rikeil Cumberbatch, 21, of Samaroo Village, Arima. They were first cousins.
Police said that between 5 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. on Sunday, residents of Pioneer Drive, Sea Lots, contacted the Besson Street Police Station after noticing the bodies in the East Dry River, Sea Lots. With the help of some of the residents, Coast Guard officers and the Hunters Search and Rescue Team, the bodies were extracted from the water and conveyed to a mortuary in East Port of Spain.
Thrown into river
Yesterday morning the bodies were brought to the Science Centre to be positively identified and an autopsy is expected to be done later this week. However, police said it appeared both men had been stabbed before their bodies were thrown into the river.
The grieving parents of both young men were at the centre yesterday morning, not believing it was their sons until they saw their bodies. They both appeared to have been dead for some time.
Dookna’s parents, who asked not to be named, said they were especially proud of what he had accomplished during his short time.
His mother said he attended El Dorado West Secondary School and that he was highly skilled with his hands.
‘He could have done anything as an 18-year-old. You give him a power saw to cut down a coconut tree, he could do that. You tell him the car not starting, he could fix that. You tell him fix the deck in the car, he could do that. You tell him build a cupboard for you, he could do that,’ she said.
She described him as family oriented and adored by his three nephews, two brothers and a sister.
‘He was the baby…the last child and the father’s spoiled child,’ she said. She added that everything her son knew, he had learned from his father.
‘He owned two cars before the age of 18 and he even had his own car wash…Ninko’s Car Wash,’ she said. She admitted however that ‘he got caught up.’
Asked what she meant, she explained that her son was too trusting.
‘Rykeel and them is a different generation. They just got caught up and feel everybody is their friend, and it is wrong. Not everybody is your friend and not all skin teeth is laugh,’ she said.
The boy’s father also spoke and explained that he last saw his son on Friday night around 11.15 p.m. He said Rykeel told him that he was going to a party in South Trinidad but before he left the house he warned him, saying, ‘You have to cool down on what you are doing. You are liming with the wrong crowd. He told me, ‘Daddy, I going and lock them off.’ And I replied to him that he is going to learn a trade,’ he said.
Rikeil Cumberbatch’s mother, who also spoke with the Express, said: ‘He was very loving to me. He was well-loved and we did what we had to do to keep them out of danger.’
She explained that as a parent they should have more control over their children and their movements.
‘Hold on to your child. If they want to go out, ban them. Don’t let them go out; and if they vex, that is okay,’ she said.
‘When my son was outside, we cannot sleep until he came home, as that is how Trinidad and Tobago is right now,’ she said. She also said his other siblings were not doing too well as they missed their elder brother. ‘Rikeil was the favourite. He and his girlfriend were very close. They were like conjoined twins,’ she said.
‘I felt in my heart that he was still alive when I saw the video from Sea Lots. I needed confirmation today (yesterday),’ she said.
She said that while he did not have a stable job, he worked construction ‘on and off.’
‘I feel like I am dreaming right now’
Cumberbatch’s mother said her son was a quiet boy. ‘He was quiet but he liked to party and he was liming in Samaroo Village on Friday night and then someone called him to go to a party. So I last saw him around 10 p.m. on Friday night. Nothing unusual, and he never indicated to me that he was scared of anything,’ she said.
She added that he never allowed his cellphone to die and was always in contact with her. She said realised something was wrong when she tried calling him on Saturday morning.
‘On Saturday, I kept calling and calling and his phone was off and I said no, something is going on here as he’s not the kind of person to ignore my calls,’ she said. The mother explained however that when she finally saw his body yesterday, she went into a state of shock.
‘I cannot describe how I felt after confirming my son had been killed. Somebody just took out my heart and just…I don’t know. I feel like I am dreaming right now,’ she said. She also said the crime situation was unbearable.
‘The way how T& T going right now I don’t know as you can just go out there and you are not looking for trouble and you are not doing anything but they (criminals) see something that you have on, and they see gold, and they see clothes, and they feel you have it all, and they would just take you for that,’ she said.
‘It is like anybody can get it, as even at home is not safe,’ she said.
