A bullet to the back of the head

Jul 14, 2019 Murder and Mystery, News

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By Michael Jordan

It was at around 06:00 hrs on Monday, December 12, 2005, that the female security guard noticed a red Mitsubishi Lancer, licence number HB 1188, parked off the roadway in Woolford Avenue. The driver, a young man of East Indian ancestry, appeared to be sleeping inside. The door on the driver’s side was slightly ajar.

The guard went to the car, pushed her hand through the open door and tapped the driver on the shoulder.
“Wha’ happen chap, is six o’clock… get up,” she said.
But the driver remained motionless, and it was then that the guard saw the blood at the back of the young man’s head and realised that he would never wake up.
Detectives who arrived at the scene observed that the victim had been shot to the back of the head. They ruled out robbery, since a quantity of money was found in the vehicle. However, they later learned that the driver’s mobile phone was missing. Two live rounds and a bullet casing were found at the scene.
The victim was later identified as Ricardo Ramsarran of La Grange, West Bank Demerara. They also learnt that a woman who was in Ramsarran’s car had reportedly witnessed his murder and had also narrowly escaped being killed.
The woman, a resident of Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara, said Ramsarran had picked her up at around 19:30 hrs on Sunday, December 11, 2005, at a Vlissengen Road fast food outlet. This was done after the woman contacted him by phone. She said she had known Ramsarran for about four months and would usually use his taxi when she was in Georgetown.
According to the passenger, Ramsarran had a cooking gas cylinder in his car and said that he had to drop it off. The woman alleged that it was raining at the time and she was unaware where they were heading. She claimed that shortly after they had commenced their journey, a white car pulled up alongside Ramsarran’s vehicle. A man in the front seat reportedly pointed a handgun at Ramsarran and ordered him to ‘pull over’.
According to her story, the gunman and another man, who was armed with a stick, emerged from the car. She alleged that the gunman then dragged Ramsarran from the taxi and after slapping him, ordered Ramsarran to hand over his valuables. She said that the gunman then pushed Ramsarran back into his taxi and shot him.
The woman claimed that after shooting Ramsarran, the gunman and his accomplice turned their attention to her. She said the bandits relieved her of her bag, which contained cash and other documents. One of the men allegedly said “leh we kill she too.” She claimed the gunman then pressed the weapon to her head and squeezed the trigger. She said that luckily, she managed to shift her head and the bullet merely grazed her.
Apparently believing that she was dead, the men re-entered their car and drove off. The woman claimed that she lost consciousness for about ten minutes. She said that when she regained her senses, she walked a short distance up Woolford Avenue and sought help from a passing cyclist. However, she said that the man rode off without helping her, and she received a similar response from a male security guard.
The woman said she eventually received help from a female security guard, who flagged down a car which took her to the Georgetown Public Hospital. She claimed to have related the story to the nurses and security staff. She alleged that at the time, she had assumed that Ramsarran was still alive and only learnt that he had succumbed after being questioned by the police.
Detectives checked the slain man’s background, but reportedly found nothing unsavoury about him. They learned that ‘Ricky’, as he was called, was an ex-student of St. Joseph High School. He was also planning to become engaged to his childhood girlfriend, who had attended the same institution.
The investigators attempted to trace his last movements.
According to reports, on the night of December 11, 2005, Ramsarran had travelled to Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara, to see a close friend, who was a mechanic. The mechanic recalled that Ramsarran had received two calls from a mobile phone. One of the calls was from a woman who wanted him to pick her up at a Vlissengen Road fast food outlet and take her home “over the river.”
According to this report, ‘Ricky’ was initially reluctant to take the job, but eventually consented.
At around 21:00 hrs, he received an overseas call from his mother, Jasoda Ramsarran, who indicated that she was coming from the United States over the weekend.
Mrs. Ramsarran recalled that ‘Ricky’ had warned her to be careful when she returned home, since several brutal crimes, including the beheading of an overseas-based Guyanese, had recently occurred.
After returning to Guyana, Ricky’s grief-stricken mother, and his father, began to conduct their own investigations into their son’s murder.
For one thing, while Ricky’s body and his vehicle were found in Woolford Avenue, the couple believed that he was slain elsewhere.
And as strange as it may seem, Mrs. Ramsarran believed that her son had tried to contact her from beyond the grave. She recalled that on one occasion, ‘Ricky’ appeared to her in a dream and said that he was murdered “over the river.”
And on the day that he was cremated, she also dreamed of a “tallish, dougla man” who had stared at her intently. She was convinced that the man she saw was real and that this individual had killed her son.
Convinced that the dreams held important clues to their son’s death, Mr. Eric Ramsarran decided to make inquiries at the Demerara Harbour Bridge.
According to the Ramsarrans, security personnel at the Harbour Bridge gave them records which showed that Ricky Ramsarran had crossed the bridge from Georgetown at around 22:00 hrs on the same night he was slain. They were adamant that this showed that their son had travelled either to the West Coast or West Bank of Demerara, after picking up his female passenger.
They also believed that this proved that he was not murdered in Woolford Avenue.
According to Mrs. Ramsarran, when she voiced her suspicions, one of the investigators also confided that they too believed that her son was slain elsewhere.
Investigators turned their attention to Ricky’s female passenger. She was detained for three days at the East La Penitence Police Station, while detectives tried to ascertain whether she could assist in solving the case.
Detectives detained her again on December 30, 2005, and again on July 11, 2006. The investigators opined that she had given conflicting statements about the events leading up to Ramsarran’s death.
“She claims that she was in the car and records show that the car was over the river at the time she claimed that the murder occurred, so we had to question her again,” a police official had stated.
However, the woman was eventually released. Her relatives insist that she cooperated fully with the police.
In 2007, Mrs. Ramsarran said that they were informed that the report on the case was at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. That year, the family held a memorial service for their slain son.
“We don’t want this case to be forgotten,” Mrs. Ramsarran had told me at the time. “This is a mother’s heart that is breaking and I want answers to who killed my son and why.”
To this day, those things have never been revealed.

If you have any information about this or any other unusual case, please contact Kaieteur News by letter or telephone at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown offices. Our numbers are 22-58458, 22-58465, 22-58473 and 22-58491. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address: [email protected].

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