Auto dealer’s wife slain in hail of bullets

The slain woman’s house

Gunmen clad in black executed the wife of popular auto dealer, Deokaran Sanasie, called Monkey Ram, around 19.00 hrs last night outside her Lot 129 Atlantic Gardens, East Coast Demerara home. The shooting came almost a year after her husband survived a similar attempt on his life. Patricia Sanasie, 43, was riddled with bullets as she stepped out of her car to open her gate for her daughter to drive in, after the two had returned from a church. She was shot in the neck, chest, abdomen and groin. She was already dead when a resident and her daughter took her to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

The gunmen made no attempt to shoot the victim’s daughter and reportedly escaped in a silver-grey Raum. Police sources said that two bullets were retrieved from the scene. Sanasie and her husband, Deokaran Sanasie, owner of Ram’s Auto Sales, had been embroiled in a prolonged dispute, after gunmen shot him outside a Fourth Street, Alberttown business on February 14, 2014.

The husband had accused his spouse of hiring the gunmen to execute him. The couple had separated and a relative of Mr. Sanasie said that he has been overseas “since before Christmas.”

According to reports, Patricia Sanasie and her daughter had just arrived home in their car when the mother exited the car to open the gate. Shortly after, two men drove up in a silver-grey vehicle. The men, who were clad in black, exited, and “the fat man in black” riddled Mrs. Sanasie with bullets before fleeing with his companion.

Residents told Kaieteur News that they heard about four gunshots. They then heard Mrs. Sanasie’s daughter screaming out: Is (named person) do it, is (named person) do it,” apparently suggesting that someone close to the family had planned the hit.

Dead: Patricia Sanasie

They then saw Patricia Sanasie lying lifeless outside her gate. “All I hear is bam bam bam…I don’t think it take ten seconds,” a woman who was the victim’s next door neighbor and close friend told reporters at the GPHC. “I hear screams and I see neighbours from all over running (to the scene). “I run over and we drag her into the car, but she did already dead.”

A police rank who lives in the neighbourhood said that he was in his home when he heard explosive sounds like firecrackers. He said that on peering outside, he saw Mrs. Sanasie lying in a pool of blood outside her home. He then assisted in taking her to the GPHC, where she was pronounced dead.

Asked if Patricia Sanasie had expressed fear for her safety, the friend said: “All the time…all the time.” According to the friend, she had repeatedly pleaded with Sanasie to leave.

On February 14, 2014, the 59-year-old Deokaran Sanasie, called ‘Ram’, was sitting outside his hardware store in Light and Fourth Streets, Alberttown, when a man who was on a CG motorcycle shot him three times. He survived the attack and later alleged that his wife, Patricia, along with a male relative, had paid the gunmen $6M to kill him.  The businessman claimed that the woman had called and enquired about his whereabouts some ten minutes before he was shot. The businessman said that for the past several years, he and the woman were experiencing problems with their relationship. “We were not living nice. Things from the house started to vanish and she always lying to me,” he had told Kaieteur News back then.

“My jewellery disappeared and a diamond bracelet that I paid US$7000 for, vanished. I made a report and the police said that my (partner) can do anything because we are in a relationship.” According to the businessman, he was in America in December, 2013, and when he returned to Guyana, the woman sold a number of items from his yard.

Relatives retrieves the victim’s belongings from her car

He suggested that the female associate, wanted to “bump him off” in order to take over his business. At the time, it was also alleged that investigators had obtained a recorded telephone conversation in which an individual reportedly told Mr. Sanasie that his spouse, Patricia, and a male relative had paid to get him killed.

Patricia Sanasie and the relative were detained briefly but no one was charged. In a press conference after her release, Mrs. Sanasie refuted the allegations and claimed that her husband had financial as well as mental problems. “I know nothing about what is going on. The killers are out there and my husband should focus on finding them,” she had told journalists.” I think my husband needs to see a doctor. I think he is messed up.”