- Mom of 2 shot and killed in Trinidad
On Tuesday morning, a mother of two who had been threatened for months and appealed for safety in San Fernando was shot and killed.
After fleeing her home, Crystal Harricharan, 38, of Boodoo Trace in St. Margaret’s, Claxton Bay, was killed at Jarvis Street in Vistabella near a friend’s house.
Harricharan told to police that a villager she had fought with on December 31 was terrorising her. After that, her house was firebombed twice, shot at, and her car destroyed.
Family and a close friend stated she begged the cops for help because these were life-threatening. She fled her house to protect her children and close family when no one helped.
The murder of Harricharan was filmed on a private surveillance video showing a white Nissan B15 car dropping off a hoodied gunman.
Harricharan entered her Suzuki SX4 in a business park near to her friend’s house at 7.10 a.m.
A white Nissan B15 stopped in front of the friend’s house, and the gunman raced to the driver’s side and fired several rounds through the window. After opening the car door, the assassin shot several more rounds before running into the waiting vehicle, which sped away.
Harricharan’s unidentified acquaintance told the Express. He stated he was only yards away when the gunman attacked, so he was scared.
He stated Harricharan would drop him off at his profession at a local car wash and then drive her kid and other children to school at her family’s home.
He said he had often taken Harricharan to Southern Police Division stations and the San Fernando administration building to ask officials to arrest the man she suspected was pursuing her. “But look how many police are here now,” the friend told the Express at the crime site yesterday.
Parents, sisters, and other family members mourned or stared in shock at her Boodoo Trace house after losing her. One sister, Waheeda Seenath, cried as she described Harricharan’s attempts to protect her and her children.
She kept calling the police and said a car was following her when she picked up schoolchildren, so she hung out at a friend’s house. Once they know where she’s staying, they catch her. Seenath stated she didn’t want to risk our lives here.
‘Like Allyuh waiting for my death’
Last December 31, Harricharan’s problems began, the sister said. She had a hilltop incident with a man. He parked and came out, and they argued. He heard her narrative. On New Year’s night, we went home to sleep and heard gunshots by her house. They shoot her front window.
We notified the cops. Police spoke little. Investigation is promised. The house was flambeau-bombed on January 18. We were awake and out of the flames; the guys ran. On the 20th, they attempted again and a room caught fire. Everyone escapes the flames. Since then, authorities have been searching for them, and he’s hiding, said Seenath.
A police source told the Express that St. Margaret’s Police Station was investigating Harricharan’s house events, and the individual wanted for intentional damage had left and was missing.
Harricharan’s companion was worried and angered by the poor police reaction. He told the Express, “She told the police, ‘Like allyuh waiting for me to die’. The St. Margaret’s station officers are aware. Her home was shot on January 1. Her home was firebombed. No safe home was provided for her. The St. Margaret’s police knew she was tracked.
We went to Marabella since St. Margaret’s wasn’t helping. Police (Marabella) failed us. She talked to an officer upstairs in the new San Fernando building, which has three floors. She returned home to put on shoes and long trousers. “She did everything,” stated the pal.
The killer, getaway driver, and car were searched for by San Fernando CID, Southern Division Task Force, and Homicide Bureau of Region III officers, but none were discovered.
The Express asked the Police Service’s manager of corporate communications, Joanne Archie, via WhatsApp to respond to Crystal Harricharan’s family’s claims that her reports were ignored.
He told the Express, “Crystal Harricharan of Union Village Claxton Bay was brutally murdered this morning at Jarvis Street Vistabella while seated in her car. Ms. Harricharan reported vehicle damage at St. Margaret’s Police Station on December 31, 2023. Her house was firebombed. We documented her and witness statements and worked to apprehend the suspect. The suspect has left his residence since the incident and is missing.
“We cannot confirm whether those earlier reports are related to Ms. Harricharan’s murder. Investigations continue.”
Archie said: “The Senior Superintendent, Southern Division, communicated with Ms. Harricharan about her report investigations and instructed her to expedite them. No witnesses were located for her home firebombing.
