Slain pensioner reportedly had $6M stashed in home
– son, workers still in custody
Detectives are trying to ascertain reports that Better Hope, East Coast Demerara pensioner David Ramkissoon had some $6M stashed in his home prior to him being found in his residence with his throat slashed.
Dead: David Ramkissoon
The claim about the large sum of cash is being made by the slain man’s son, who, along with two of his workers, has been detained.
The son has told police that he had gone to a creek on the Soesdyke/Linden highway with his family, and returned to find his 76-year-old father dead in his bedroom.
Kaieteur News understands that the workers who were later detained were to have accompanied the son and family on the trip to the creek, but then indicated that they were not going.
The house was ransacked and money was reportedly stolen, but a source said that detectives found “absolutely no sign” of forced entry.
Police who examined the scene reportedly found several envelopes, in which Ramkissoon would have received his pension money, in a refrigerator. One theory that investigators are examining is the possibility that the killing may be linked to a property dispute.
David Ramkissoon, called “Shortman”, was found in a pool of blood in the living room of his home at around 19:30 hrs on Sunday.
His son had reportedly just returned home after spending the day at a creek on the Soesdyke/ Linden Highway with his family.
The pensioner shared the home with his son, daughter-in-law and the couple’s two children.
The daughter-in-law had said the family left home around 11:00 hrs on Sunday to go to the creek.
“We left late and he (the father-in-law) was telling us is best we stay home and eat lunch then go to the creek, because the traffic to go to the creek gun be bad. He was sitting in the hammock when we left home.”
She added that when they returned home, they noticed that the house was in complete darkness.
“My husband went in the yard and opened the door and went inside to put on the light and he go in his father room and called for him, but he see the room ransacked and his father wasn’t there, so we went in the other rooms and they were ransacked,” the woman said.
She said that it was when her husband was heading back downstairs that he noticed his father’s body and started screaming.
The daughter-in-law said that she and several neighbours rushed into the house and saw Ramkissoon on the floor. She said that she has no idea as to why the police would take her husband in custody since he is innocent and would in no way harm his father.
Asked if she has any idea as to who may want her father-in-law dead, the woman responded in the negative, but claimed that there are a number of unemployed youths in the area who hang out in the streets.