Two years after her husband was murdered in Tobago, a Carenage businesswoman was fatally shot by a gunman at her popular mini-mart on the Western Main Road.
The death of Radica Debideen, a 69-year-old mother of two and grandmother of four, left relatives and neighbours in shock and grief yesterday. She was described as “well-loved” and “always pleasant.”
Debideen, who operated her son’s establishment Ravi By The Bay, was shot multiple times as she stood behind the counter at around 8.10 am yesterday.
Video footage captured by security cameras on the premises showed her killer entering the premises and engaging Debideen who was behind the counter which was secured by burglar-proof.
The unmasked gunman, who was dressed in blue three-quarter jeans, a blue jersey and yellow sneakers, drew his weapon and shot Debideen several times at point-blank range. As she collapsed, the gunman ran out of the compound and disappeared along the busy roadway.
Several of Debideen’s relatives gathered at the scene yesterday. One of them described her as “a well-loved person in the whole area.”
“They called her mother. Everyone respects her and looks up to her, so it’s difficult to know this happened to her,” the woman said.
Recalling that Debideen was always quick to share a plate of food with anyone who stopped by and was in need, the woman wept as she said: “She’s a quiet peaceful person. She’s always home and hard working and would keep to herself.”
The one-stop shop, well stocked with groceries and produce, was popular with residents and her relatives said she never spoke of being threatened or coerced by anyone.
“She never said anything about threats. I don’t think it was anything like that...I could be wrong, but she does feed and give everyone, whatever she have, she gives,” one of them said.
Carenage residents said Debideen was known and loved by all in the community. One man explained that following the shooting they went looking elsewhere for bodies as they didn’t believed the victim could be Debideen.
Her body was found by someone who went in to buy something and saw her on the ground in the mini-mart.
Debideen’s husband Koongebeharry Jaisarie was killed in Tobago in 2020 after he went there to transact business.
He was co-owner of the E-Zee Breezy Hotel, Lowlands, and had reportedly gone to pay workers and review renovations at the facility on June 4, 2020, when he disappeared.
Relatives raised an alarm when he failed to return to Trinidad and Jaisarie’s body was found days later on June 13 in a shallow grave that had been covered with a concrete slab behind an abandoned church in Lowlands.
—Anna-Lisa Paul
