A Claxton Bay woman narrowly escaped an encounter with a gunman who took the life of her husband yesterday even as she ran for help.
Police say Super Industrial Services Ltd (SIS) supervisor Vijay Basdeo, 35, was preparing for work at his Abraham Street, Claxton Bay home around 5.30 am yesterday when he walked into his garage, and was approached by a gunman.
Basdeo was ordered back to the house and was forced to tie his wife Feroza Mohammed’s hands with duck tape. He was then taken to a bedroom where he too was tied by the gunman.
Mohammed was able to free herself, but as she ran to neighbours for help, Basdeo was shot once in the head.
Even though she heard the gunshot, it was only when she saw undertakers removing her husband’s body that she believed that he was dead.
Comforting words from relatives and neighbours did little, as she sat in front of her home, crying loudly.
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| Family members of Vijay Basdeo were in tears outside his home in Pranz Gardens, Claxton Bay home after he was shot and killed. Photo: Tony Howell |
Cops question motive
Central Division police did not reveal much, saying that they needed to protect the witnesses.
“We are looking for a man who left the scene in a blue coverall with an orange stripe and we have certain leads that we are working with and I really don’t wish to disclose it for the safety of the people involved. So far, the villagers are assisting us well, it seems to be a close-knitted community,” Sen Supt Johnny Abraham said.
“Looking at what happened here, I don’t want to believe it was a robbery because if you really come to rob a family, I don’t think you will duct tape them and then shoot someone in their head without resistance. He was found in a bedroom with both hands and feet tied."
He said this was the fifteenth murder in the Central Division for 2015.
SIS link?
Police are probing whether the murder was work-related as his attacker was seen fleeing his home in a coverall resembling those worn at the company.
Among the dozens of colleagues who gathered outside Basdeo’s home, some debated whether Basdeo's murder was connected to his place of employment.
One supervisor said that it could have been a grudge created by someone who was laid-off after working on a plant shut down.
But the victim’s younger brother Kashav said while there were speculations that the murder was work related, his brother had no enemies nor did he complain of any problems.
“Vijay was a very loving and caring guy. At work he was stern, but respected. He worked there for 15 years and if he was facing a problem and did not talk anybody, he would have come to me. Vijay always looked like things were bothering him with work because he was a workaholic, a person who cherished his work over other things,” Kashav said.
“One of the other supervisors said that because they work with SIS and they have a lot of shutdown work, they tend to hire a lot of people and lay them off as the shutdown is done. He said that is the only way he sees a grudge being made. Other than that and from talking to some of his co-workers, Vijay did not have arguments or any quarrels with his co-workers."