(Reprinted from the Trinidad Guardian)
A Central couple who were reported missing Sunday were found murdered, hours apart, in two different police divisions on Monday.
Police said from their preliminary reports they believed that the body of a man found on Manzanilla beach on Monday was that of 48-year-old Raj Sookhai, while the body of a woman found down a precipice of the Blanchissuese Bypass Road, Arima, hours later was that of Ann-Marie Bain, 45.
Police believe that the couple were abducted and killed after a car deal at the Caroni Bird Sanctuary went sour.
Police sources said the car deal involved a stolen vehicle. Police said relatives of the two victims will officially identify the bodies today at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, before autopsies can be done.
Police said Sookhai’s body was found around 11.30 am at the beach with stab wounds to the neck and chest.
He was wearing only a T-shirt when he was found. Police said it was initially thought that Sookhai had drowned but after his body was examined by a doctor it was determined he was murdered. Sookhai lived in Freeport, police said.
Bain, of Preysal, was found down a precipice around 5.30 pm, off the Bypass Road.
A Nissan Cefiro was parked along the roadway near where her body was discovered, police said.
The killing of the couple and that of a La Brea man have pushed the murder toll to 100 at 75 days into the year.
In an unrelated killing, police are continuing investigations into the murder of a 26-year-old St Joseph man who was shot dead under a mango tree off the Priority Bus Route last Friday.
According to police reports, around 7.30 pm, Anil Bridgelal of Cherry Drive, Farm Road, St Joseph, was shot repeatedly by a masked man who emerged from a white AD wagon on the PBR.
The shooter escaped in the waiting vehicle.
