Relatives of Krishna Rajkumar, the man who was shot dead by a policeman on Monday night, are calling for a proper investigation into the shooting, claiming it could have been an excessive use of force.
Rajkumar, 54, a construction labourer of Savannah Drive, Korea Village, Carapichaima, died while being taken to the Chaguanas District Health Facility suffering from a gunshot wound to his chest.
Police said he was at home when he called out to his son-in-law, acting Sgt Dhanraj Narine of Western Division police, who lives in an adjoining apartment.
Narine reportedly told Freeport police when he went outside, Rajkumar threatened him and charged at him with a cutlass. In defence, Narine said he drew his service pistol and fired a shot at his step father-in-law.
However, Rajkumar’s 22-year-old daughter, Genesa, said she saw her father standing in the yard right before two gunshots went off and she saw no cutlass in his hand.
“Even if my father had a cutlas in his hands, he could have shot him in his hands, his legs or he could have even fired a warning shot to make him catch himself,” Genesa said at their home yesterday.
The traumatised daughter admitted that her father was drunk and was quarrelling right before the shooting took place but said he did not deserve to be killed.
She explained: “He was drinking before and he came home with one of my friend's father and they continued drinking in the yard. After my friend’s father left, he came inside and started to curse and get on with everybody but it was not directed to me.
“I was on my bed with my daughter and then I looked outside and I saw him standing in the yard. I did not see anything in his hands. I heard two gunshots and when I looked again, I didn’t see him.
Rajkumar’s sister, Balmatie Poonwassie, said both households had a dispute over the property, which he owned. She said the feud became so bad that her niece took her father to court last November after a heated quarrel.
Central Division police said for now they were not treating it as a murder as Narine, who was at the Forensic Science Centre yesterday for the autopsy, was defending himself from a cutlass attack.
They said Dhanraj had recently reported to the Freeport police that Rajkumar would harass and threaten him.