Ot­to Car­ring­ton

In the last two years, the vil­lage of Blan­chisseuse has been the scene for six mur­ders, all still un­solved. And now, a dou­ble mur­der in the close-knit­ted com­mu­ni­ty yes­ter­day has vil­lagers fear­ful and pan­ick­ing.

The coast­line com­mu­ni­ty is known for its pris­tine beau­ty and peace, but vil­lagers yes­ter­day ad­mit­ted they are faced with blood­shed.

Ac­cord­ing to po­lice re­ports, 51-year-old Nigel Dedi­er and 31-year-old Michael “Frisk” Evan­ge­list were on the beach be­hind a con­struc­tion site along the Paria Main Road, near the Blan­chisseuse Recre­ation Ground, when they were ap­proached by un­known men who opened fire on the two, killing them on the spot.

Vil­lagers heard the loud ex­plo­sions and when they in­ves­ti­gat­ed, they dis­cov­ered Dedi­er and Evan­ge­list.

In 2020, Evan­ge­list’s broth­er, Sher­win Ma­haraj, was al­so mur­dered.

Rel­a­tives of the two men gath­ered at the scene spoke to Guardian Me­dia.

Michael Evan­ge­list’s grand­moth­er, Lynette Evan­ge­list, de­scribed her grand­son as qui­et and some­one who would lime with friends and drink but said he nev­er over­did it.

She said she be­lieved the mo­tive was a land dis­pute, as Evan­ge­list had in­her­it­ed land from his great-grand­fa­ther.

Dedi­er and Evan­ge­list both lived at O’Con­nor Street, Up­per Vil­lage, Blan­chisseuse.

Last De­cem­ber, over a mile from where the dou­ble mur­der oc­curred, art cu­ra­tor and deal­er Mark Pereira was mur­dered in a rob­bery at his home along the Paria Main Road.

On Sep­tem­ber 8, 2021, Clive “Fibee” Joseph, 48, and Kevin “Gee” Estra­da, 40, of Up­per Vil­lage, were stand­ing at O’Con­nor Street, when two gun­men emerged from some bush­es and opened fire on them.

They died at the scene and no mo­tive has as yet been es­tab­lished for their killings.

The broth­er of Evan­ge­list, Sher­win Ma­haraj, 31, was shot dead on Feb­ru­ary 17, 2021, near his home, af­ter he went to drop off soft drinks for a rel­a­tive on O’Con­nor Street.

Ac­cord­ing to sources the gun­man wait­ed for Ma­haraj be­hind an aban­doned house near­by and shot him in the back of the head.

In­ves­ti­ga­tors sus­pect­ed that an­oth­er rel­a­tive may have been the tar­get of the gun­men, but could not con­firm what the mo­tive might have been.

With the six mur­ders record­ed in just two years, how­ev­er, the po­lice said yes­ter­day that they are not rul­ing out the fact that these in­ci­dents may be con­nect­ed.

In­ves­ti­ga­tions are con­tin­u­ing in­to these mur­ders.