Trinidad and Tobago: Santa Cruz robbery turns fatal as woman, nephew shot dead by victim

Trinidad and Tobago: Botched armed robbery in Santa Cruz leaves 29-year-old Suevie Ghany and her nephew 23-year-old Aaron Ramdhanie dead after the two were fatally shot whilst robbing a man with a licensed firearm on August 15.

According to police reports, the robbery took place around 5:45 a.m on Friday as a 66-year-old man had parked his pickup van along La Pastora Road, Santa Cruz while he tried to retrieve water from the spring. 

Allegedly, moments later a grey Nissan Note with the registration PDZ 5095 pulled up alongside him, and two men of East Indian descent, exited the vehicle and claimed that it was a ‘hold up’. 

The 66-year-old man fearing for his life  resisted the robbing and began shouting for help,  before he managed to reach for his licensed firearm which he had inside his vehicle. 

The 66-year-old began discharging the firearms profusely, leading the firearm in the direction of the armed assailants, leading to him, hitting 2 of the robbers. 

The men attempted to flee but their vehicle crashed into an embankment a short distance away.

Police including PC Griffith and a party of officers from the Santa Cruz Police Station, swiftly responded to the scene to find the Nissan Note ignition still running, and inside the vehicle was the motionless body of a 29-year-old woman identified as Suevie Ghany clad in a yellow hijab and black face mask, of Gasparillo Road in Santa Cruz, also known as an employee of the San Juan Regional Corporation. 

She was found bleeding from a head injury and the medical officers soon pronounced her dead at the scene. 

Her 23-year-old nephew Aaron Ramdhanie reportedly fled the scene with bullet injuries, contacted his relatives for help, and was rushed to the hospital. But despite their admission at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Aaron succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead by doctors at 7:30 a.m. 

Upon processing of the scene, the Crime Investigators recovered six spent 9mm shell casings, one bullet fragment, and other evidential items, including a firearm, both vehicles, the Nissan Note and the Toyota Aqua,  which were seized for further forensic examination.

The 66-year-old victim of the attempted robbery was also taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex for medical treatment following the ordeal.

The incident still remains under investigation as one of the two men who got out to rob the 66-year-old is yet to be found after fleeing the scene, but the police have identified a possible suspect with the name "Pooh Bear" believed to have been the second male of the botched robbery attempt.