The two survivors of the Brasso Seco horror — sisters Jennelle, 19, and Felicia Gonzales, 17 — were forced to mourn their mother, daughter and friend yesterday inside a white Kia Sorento as they were not allowed to exit the vehicle for the funeral service.
The sisters along with their mother Irma Rampersad, Jennelle’s daughter Shania Amoroso and their neighbour Felix Martinez were abducted from Rampersad’s Bleu Road, Brasso Seco, home last October 26.
Martinez and baby Shania’s body were found in a duffle bag in the Brasso Seco forest on November 8.
Three days later Rampersad’s body was found. All three were in an advance stage of decomposition.
On November 14 the girls were rescued from a shack in the forest after a shootout with police. The relatives of the deceased had to wait three months until DNA testing proved their identity which was done last week before they could pay their final respects.
Two men — Azmon Alexander and his 17-year-old cousin — are before Senior Magistrate Indrani Cedeno charged with the abduction of the five, murder of the trio and other offences, including robbery and shooting at police.
The two will re-appear before the magistrate on March 11.
While their siblings and other relatives were inside the Santa Rosa RC Church, along with other mourners, some were forced to peer through the heavily-tinted SUV windows at the three caskets with their loved ones picture atop them.
At the door close to where the vehicle was parked, heavily armed officers stood guard. The sisters and their siblings were never seen interacting. Since the teens were rescued they have been in police custody.
Earlier in the day baby Shania’s father, Steven Amoroso, was taken from Remand Yard, Arouca, where he is awaiting trial for housebreaking, to Allen’s Funeral Home, Arima, to pay his final respects to his daughter.
Baby Shania was placed in her own coffin instead of with her grandmother as was initially requested by the family. The trio were cremated at the Allens crematorium.
During the homily Fr Lesley Tankai described the victims as martyrs as they were killed for truth and justice.
He said the last time he saw the surviving sisters there were at church singing the hymn “Walk with me Lord”.
He told the congregation, which included MP for the area Rodger Samuel, he believed the girls sang that as they went through their ordeal.
“We live in a world bombarded with violence and have become normal to violence. We need to learn to forgive and let go of the circumstances that has been plaguing us since October 2014. We have to come together to rebuild the community.
“Parents, speak to children in the right manner and don’t encourage them in evil. When we bring them up in right way we will eradicate evil” Tankai said.
Ramperad’s brother-in-law and his daughter, Davinand Dass, and Anisa Rampersad in their eulogy written by Rampersad’s children, described the mother of seven as a strong woman who believed in honesty and hard work.
The duo said Rampersad was a wonderful person who did not deserve such a death. Baby Shania, they recalled, was her maternal grandmother’s joy.
Martinez was remembered by his sister, Maria, who said her brother was a helpful man who grew from a mischievous child.