A 34-year-old businessman from Non Pareil, East Coast Demerara, was shot dead even as his wife went down on her knees and begged that his life be spared.

Chandrapaul called Ravin, or ‘Kero Man', was gunned down at around 19:30 hours by three bandits who robbed his family and then escaped in his wife's car.

Unsolved murder

When this newspaper visited the scene, Chandrapaul's body, which was covered with a sheet, was lying on the road outside his yard, while his wife Nazeema and their two daughters were being consoled by relatives.

Several persons from the area left their homes and converged on the scene to discuss the brutal killing of the young businessman, who supplied several villages with kerosene.

The dead man's wife told this newspaper that her husband was in the yard, while she and their two daughters were in the house when the bandits struck.

The woman said that she was in her kitchen when two men confronted her. One of the men ordered her to get the money and jewellery, while another remained in the kitchen with her two small children. “I went and have the money for them and I was begging them, ‘please, nobody hurt my children and I heard them said shoot him outside,” the young businessman recalled.

She said that she had heard several bottles breaking outside, and she believes that her husband was wrestling with other bandits.

“Like he was pelting them with some drink bottles or something. He was pelting outside and they were saying shoot him and kill him. I started to beg; I went on my knees; I was saying ‘Take it, don't kill my husband'. I tell them, ‘I give you guys everything, everything I'm giving you, just don't kill him,” the woman cried, clutching one of her children.

She said that after the men left the house, she went to a security buzzer that alerted a popular security firm.

According to Nazeema, the men jumped into her car, PJJ 1892, and drove away.

“When I look, I saw them in the car and when they were reversing the car, I saw him (her husband) on the road. I screamed, ‘you guys kill my husband' and they ignored me and they just keep driving. They just drive out and they drove over him,” the woman said through tears.

She stated that as the car sped away, she ran unto the road to the body of her husband and almost collapsed when she saw that he was already dead.

Several spent shells from what is believed to be a machine gun were recovered at the scene. This newspaper understands that the stolen car was recovered a few hours later in the Paradise rice milling compound, about one mile from the murder scene.

This is the third time that Chandrapaul was attacked by bandits.

A few years ago, he was robbed while doing business in Bare Roots, Bachelor's Adventure. Last Christmas Eve he survived after he was shot at his home.

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Sunday 10-01-2006