Rad­hi­ca Sookraj

"Don't point that at me!" Those were the fran­tic words of Ren­nie Be­har­ry be­fore his friend shot him dead for re­fus­ing to dis­pose of a corpse af­ter Be­har­ry stum­bled up­on a mur­der scene in Pleas­antville on Thurs­day night. Be­har­ry, 29, of Pleas­antville Ter­race, awoke to the sound of gun­shots and saw the killer stand­ing over the corpse of Kwasi Mar­cus Pred­die, 25, of Pharoah Street, Ste Madeleine. In­ves­ti­ga­tors said Pred­die and five oth­er men were play­ing a game of cards at Born Free Recre­ation Club, which is owned by Be­har­ry's fa­ther Evans.

The bar, lo­cat­ed at Pleas­antville Ter­race, was closed at the time, but an ad­join­ing gam­bling room, which was rent­ed out, was in op­er­a­tion. Wit­ness­es told po­lice that dur­ing the card game, at around 5.10 am, Pred­die had an ar­gu­ment with the killer, who pulled out a gun and shot him twice at point-blank range. The oth­er play­ers fled as Pred­die fell to the ground dead. Be­har­ry, who was asleep in­side his home lo­cat­ed to the back of the bar, woke up at the sound of the gun­shots and ran out­side to in­ves­ti­gate. He saw the gun­man, who he grew up with, stand­ing over Pred­die's corpse. Be­har­ry's fa­ther said he heard the con­ver­sa­tion be­fore the sec­ond mur­der was com­mit­ted.

"The man told my son to start his car and to move (Pred­die's) body. My son told him he want­ed no part of that. Then I heard my son say­ing 'don't point that at me.' I heard three gun­shots and when I ran out I see my son ly­ing on the ground bleed­ing," Evans re­called. The gun­man fled the scene. Be­har­ry was tak­en to San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal where he was pro­nounced dead on ar­rival. Wip­ing away tears, Evans said he was al­ways care­ful not to al­low his chil­dren in the gam­bling are­na.

He said: "That was why I sep­a­rat­ed the bar from the gam­bling room. The bar has been ex­is­tence for over 35 years. It was owned by my par­ents and I took it over sev­en years ago." Evans said Be­har­ry was a hard-work­ing man who as­sist­ed in the house­hold. Be­har­ry's wife, Crys­tal Ser­rette, and his moth­er, Lynette Be­har­ry, were in­con­solable yes­ter­day. Serette and Be­har­ry have three chil­dren–Josi­ah, 13, Ren­dell, aged three and Re­nal­do, aged five. Mean­while, Pred­die's moth­er Mar­i­lyn said God would deal with the killer. She said her son was a hard­work­ing man who loved to par­ty. "As a moth­er it hurt­ing me, but I putting every­thing in the hands of God," Mar­i­lyn wept.