Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
Just a short distance away from the private residence of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, a family was tied up, beaten, terrorised, and robbed during a violent early-morning home invasion on Tuesday. Fifty-three-year-old Vijay Ragoonanan, a gardener who was beaten during the attack, said the ordeal has left his wife, Betty Jagdeo, and their five children, ages seven to 23, deeply traumatised.
“This is horror. I wouldn’t like my worst enemy to go through this. It’s really horror,” he lamented during an interview at his Phillipine home.
Ragoonanan said his family was asleep when, around 3 am, he heard a loud noise. “When I heard that noise, they said, ‘Police, police,’” he recalled, explaining that they had no time to react before the front door was kicked open and six armed men stormed into the house.
Ragoonanan, his wife, and their two youngest sons—ages 14 and 7—were in one bedroom, while their 23-year-old son and two daughters, 17 and 22, were in other rooms.
“They point the gun at me, saying, ‘Where the money?’” he said, breaking down in tears as he remembered being beaten. “They hit me one gun butt in my head. Then they hit me a next gun butt in my eye and one gun butt in my lip.”
He said the men used tie straps and duct tape to bind his hands and feet, as well as those of his wife and children, including their seven-year-old son, before ransacking the house. Though the ordeal lasted less than 30 minutes, Ragoonanan said it felt like hours.
He said he was dragged into the living room, where he said the attackers continued to kick and cuff him. Ragoonanan, who earns his living through gardening, said he is not a man of means but works hard to provide for his family.
“Every dollar that I work hard for in my whole life, they took it. The only thing they did not take is my life. We work hard in the garden, me and my wife,” he said.
He said the suspects even took their children’s savings, including his son’s 25-cent coin collection. One of the bandits, he added, pointed a 9mm firearm at them and threatened to shoot.
Still grieving the murder of his brother six months ago, Ragoonanan said the trauma has shaken his faith in life itself. “When you go through these things, you really want to know if life have any meaning,” he said.
A resident of the community for 47 years, Ragoonanan said he never imagined criminals would target his family. “Even though it have so much crime, I say crime will not hit my door—but is a big mistake I make. All of us could have been dead today.”
Left with no money, he said he doesn’t know how to move forward but is hoping for assistance from the Prime Minister.
“The Prime Minister is my neighbour. She lives just a stone’s throw away from me. If I could get any assistance for my children and me, I would be thankful because I have nothing,” he said.
Ragoonanan is now considering applying for a firearm user’s licence. His wife said the family is too afraid to stay in the house and has not slept since the incident. She is calling for frequent police patrols in the area.
Up to yesterday, no one had been arrested in connection with the incident. Officers from the San Fernando Police Station are continuing investigations.(See page 10)
