After deadly ‘pirate’ attack..Survivor gives up fishing, widow unable to build new house

May 29, 2017 News

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The recent murder of fisherman Mahadeo Ramdehol on the Corentyne River has left his wife, Chetrani Jaipersaud, without a husband, her two boys without a father, and their dreams of building a new home shattered.
And it’s now also left Arjune Permaul, one of the survivors of the pirate attack, too terrified to go out to sea again.
It was just over a week ago that two masked and cutlass-toting fishermen callously forced boat captain Ramdehol, called “Chico”, and crewmen Arjune Permaul and Paramanandan Nandan, to jump into the Corentyne River, after stealing their catch and engine.
Ramdehol’s body washed up a few days later. His crewmen survived.
The suspects, who are known as ‘Rambo’ and ‘Antenna,’ were arrested and are to be charged with murder within a few days.
Ironically, a brother of one of the alleged ‘pirates’ rescued Permaul and ‘Antenna.’ He is also likely to be charged, since he allegedly helped the culprits to hide the stolen engine.
When Kaieteur News visited the slain fisherman’s Lot 146 Kilcoy Squatting Area home last week, the grieving wife, Chetrani Jaipersaud, still appeared to be in a state of shock.
“This is very hard for me”, she said, fighting back tears, “Meh two sons (aged 16 and 19), dem na work, is me alone got to stand everything now, me alone got to be there for meh sons dem.”
She described her husband as a hardworking man, who often helped with the cooking and household chores, while she went off to work at the Guysuco dispensary.
“Like how me does wuk  (6.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m.), sometimes he does done cook, and when me come home he does dish out food fuh meh and he does help out in the kitchen a lot.”
“Me miss am so bad, night time me nah able sleep; like everything dark fuh meh.”
A week prior to his death, the couple had spoken about building a new home, since their sons were getting older.

Her spouse had promised to start investing in cement blocks to begin construction.
The widow recalled that, some years ago, her husband was involved in another traumatic ordeal at sea. That time, the vessel he was in overturned and he survived by clinging to two fish-storage boxes.
While Mrs. Chetrani Jaipersaud said she didn’t know the suspects ‘Ramdo and ‘Antenna’, she knew “Davo” who is a fish vendor.
She alleged that two weeks prior to the incident, her brother had told her that “Davo”, “Antenna” and “Rambo” had asked her husband for cigarettes.
“Dem know meh husband because all ah dem from Rose Hall”. She suspects that the men had planned the act weeks ago.
Meanwhile, in a telephone interview, survivor Arjune Persaud admitted that he is not yet over his near-death experience.
He estimated that he and fellow fisherman Paramanandan Nandan spent about two hours ‘balancing’ in the cold and rough Corentyne waters before being rescued.
“Half an hour more we would have been dead, “the fisherman told Kaieteur News.
Luckily, they managed to swim towards a fishing vessel, whose occupants included “Davo’, the brother of one of the suspects.
At the time, the crew was asleep.
“We hold on to the anchor rope; we holler and knock the boat.” Eventually, the fishermen responded and pulled them out of the water. “They give we tea and clothes. Like God wuk with we.”
Permaul is adamant that he is now done with fishing.
“Me feel afraid. Me nah want to go back to sea. Me see me life deh.”
Permaul Samaroo, the owner of the “Varuni L” fishing vessel, which was attacked, described the suspects as “family friends.”
“These men were family friends. I am not scared, but if somebody close to you can do something like that, how can you trust them?”
“Davo’ is the one that hide the engine for he brother (Antenna). Plenty body talk out; plenty see dem and then afterwards he  (Davo) eventually talk out that he brother mek he throw the engine in the pump front and after we get the message that people see dem we go out to find the engine in the water at Port Mourant front.”
He believes that the suspects have carried out similar attacks. The boat owner recounted that ‘pirates’ had stolen a 48 horsepower outboard engine from a fishing vessel about a year ago after beating the fishermen.
“We lost we engine and the boat was ashore at the same point where we boat (Varuni L) was (when it was attacked).

He further called on the authorities to have Coast Guards patrol the waters more often, since some fishermen are using the opportunity to break the law.
“The men dem not working…they don’t even know how to mend a fishing net. Everybody want money, they want to smoke, most of the fishermen smoking on the waters and doing a lot of illegal things, that’s why we need the coast guards.”
He lamented that the fishing business is not as profitable as it previously was, now that more persons are joining the trade, and there are more fishing vessels plying the waters.
This, he said, may have influenced the men to do what they did.
“I get this feeling that they use to thief fish; they use to bring fish ‘wild west’, but you got to get good fishing net to catch and if you see dem man fishing net and the amount dem get, dem can’t catch that amount of fish.
“But I think because the fishing business slow dem man go and do dem things fuh fast money”, Samaroo said.
He also made it clear that there should be no excuse for the suspects “to take a man away from his family while making a livelihood for them. ”

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