Bleeding from gunshot wounds to his chest, Anil Jaikaran drove at full speed out of the Marabella Train Line, desperately trying to get his brother and sister-in-law to safety. Jaikaran’s brother, Naresh, dodged most of the bullets except one, which struck him on the leg. Miraculously, his sister-in-law Lystra, who was in the back seat the car, escaped injury. However, 30-year-old Jaikaran, of Coconut Drive, Pleasantville, managed to drive only a short distance before he slumped behind the wheel of his car and died.
The incident occurred around 10.25 pm on Saturday when Jaikaran and his brother went into the crime infested community at Marabella to pick up Lystra who had gone there to visit her children.
As they were leaving the area, two assailants dressed in black with bandannas over their faces opened fired on Jaikaran’s car, shooting him seven times in the chest and neck. Speaking at the family’s home yesterday, Jaikaran’s sister, Eva, said Naresh called her while the shooting was in progress. “He told me that people were shooting up the car and to call the police and come to the Marabella (train) line,” Eva said. She met officers from the Marabella Police Station and went to the scene of the shooting where she saw the bloodied body of her younger brother. “When I got there, Anil was slumped backwards in the front seat. He was already dead. Naresh was sitting in the car bleeding from his leg,” Eva recalled. She said she often warned her brothers to stay away from that area. “Normally, if they going to pick up Lystra, she would walk out of the line and meet them on the main road. I do not know why they drove in there this time,” Eva said. She explained that Lystra had two grown children who lived in the Marabella Train Line.
She said her brothers did not have any enemies. Anil Jaikaran worked as an attendant at Glen’s Distributors and Naresh was a market vendor. She said Anil Jaikaran was planning to build over his home next year. “He already had a house plan and a contractor to start the job. He was looking forward to this,” she said. Another relative, who asked not to be identified, said a resident of the Train Line had often warned Jaikaran not to go into the area. “Three years ago, he went there and was planassed,” the relative said. Jaikaran’s body was removed to the Forensic Science Centre where an autopsy will be done today. No motive has yet been established for the killing. Senior Supt Cecil Santana, and PC Hercules of the San Fernando Homicide Bureau are continuing investigations.