Sascha Wilson
Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.ttFormer president of the Penal/Debe Chamber of Commerce Rampersad Sieuraj was chopped on his head during a home invasion during the early hours of Thursday morning.
With a bandage on his head and his right arm in a cast, Sieuraj told Guardian Media at his Penal home yesterday that he has decided to migrate as he has lost faith in T&T.
Before breaking into Sieuraj’s home at Penal Rock Road in Penal, the three masked bandits poisoned his two dogs. Sieuraj recalled that he was asleep between 2.30 am and 3 am when they kicked open his bedroom door. He grabbed his licenced revolver but never got the chance to use it.
“At the same time, those three guys would have already been on my back, so I was powerless. They chopped me in my head and continued to fight with me for the firearm.”
During the struggle, he said one of the suspects “wring my arm,” dislocating his elbow. They tied his hands and feet with electrical cords and ordered him to lie on his stomach while they ransacked the house. During the 30-minute ordeal, he said, they threatened to kill him.
“They definitely had a cutlass. At one point in time, they pointed a gun at my forehead and said to me they going to kill me.”
The bandits stole over $100,000 in money and jewellery and the victim’s firearm. When they left, Sieuraj managed to untie himself and contacted the police. He was discharged from the hospital on Friday. Admitting that he was fearful that they would kill him, he said he was prepared to fight for his life.
Sieuraj claimed there had been several robberies over the last four months, and he knew it was just a matter of time before they targeted his home. Sieuraj, a chartered accountant who owns an accounting firm in Penal, said his three children are living abroad and he has decided to join them. His wife died last year.
For the past decade, Sieuraj said, he has been lobbying for additional resources for the police in Penal and more measures to address crime in the district.
“It is very traumatic for me, traumatic in the sense that I have been advocating for some level of accountability, transparency, and good governance over the past decade. I think in every forum that I have been in, I have been talking about Penal and Penal Police stations and the lack of vehicles. I have raised the matter with every Commissioner of Police since the days of Hilton Guy.”
He claimed that there was only one police vehicle assigned to Penal.
Sieuraj, a retired assistant commissioner at the Board of Inland Revenue, said he served the country for more than three decades.
“It is sad now that in my time of retirement I have to put up with this nonsense. I have lost faith in this country. This country is a failed state, and I dare any of you to tell me which institution in this country is working; every institution in this country has broken down.”
Penal Debe Regional Corporation chairman Gowtam Maharaj, who visited Sieuraj yesterday to lend support, lamented that the crime situation was frightening and everyone was a target.
Calling on the authorities to do more to arrest crime, Maharaj said there were at least four or five crimes reported in Penal/Debe daily.
Meanwhile, Acting Superintendent of the South Western Division Edward Cumberbatch said the Penal Police Station was not understaffed, but he admitted there was a shortage of vehicles in the division. When available, however, he said, they use vehicles from the Court and Process Division to fill the gap. While there has not been an increase in home invasions in Penal, he said, there had been a spike in shootings and woundings.
Chamber president Mootilal Ramsingh noted that business people are afraid and called for increased police patrols.
Cumberbatch, said, however, they had stepped up joint police and army patrols and stop-and-search exercises in the region.
Minister in the Ministry of National Security Keith Scotland could not be reached for an update on the TTPS Special Operations Counter Home/Business Invasion Task Force, which was mentioned in the 2025 Budget. — Sascha Wilson