Senior Reporter
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
For years, Dennis Achargee was a familiar face in Quarry Road, Siparia: a mechanic, former cyclist and neighbour remembered by residents as a quiet man who would stop to talk and greet those around him.
But on Friday, the 62-year-old was found dead in his outhouse, prompting a police investigation and leaving the community searching for answers. Achargee lived alone at the wooden one-room house surrounded by bush in Quarry Road, where neighbours last saw him on Tuesday. Anil Samlal, who lives nearby, said Achargee was known as a friendly person who was not involved in trouble.
“Dennis was a normal person. He’d talk and laugh with everybody. Everybody. I ain’t know Dennis to be no troublemaker or anything.”
Samlal said Achargee worked as a mechanic and people would often come for his services.
“If somebody needed him, they’d come and pick him up, they’d carry him, and bring him back.”
Police said around 10 am on Friday, a relative went to Achargee’s home and found the front door secured with a padlock. After the lock was forced open, the house was found ransacked. Police said checks revealed that a gas tank, generator and brush cutter were missing.
A search of the property led officers to an outhouse at the back of the home, where Achargee was found dead with his head and upper body inside the latrine opening. He had on only blue three-quarter pants.
The District Medical Officer visited the scene, viewed the body and ordered its removal pending a post-mortem examination at the Forensic Science Centre in St James. Relatives and residents believe items missing from the home, including Achargee’s brush cutter and cooking gas tank, suggest that foul play may have been involved.
His Nissan B14 motorcar was also reported missing but was later found at Skinner Trace, Quarry Village. The circumstances surrounding his death have unsettled residents, and investigators are yet to determine a preliminary cause of death.
Samlal said the incident has left him concerned because of how close it occurred to his own home.
“That is very, too, too, too, very close to home. So that leaves me uncomfortable, because I have a wife home too.”
Beyond his work as a mechanic, Achargee was also known in cycling circles.
He was part of a generation of southern Trinidad cyclists associated with the Siparia cycling community and trained under former Olympian and coach Clive Saney.
Samlal said older residents often spoke about Achargee’s cycling days.
“Everybody used to say, boy, Dennis used to ride for the country. He used to be up and down on the road.”
Police investigations into Achargee’s death are continuing.
