Dad killed hours after daughter sits SEA exam

2026-03-28 - 02:34

Senior Reporter sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt On the day he was celebrating his daughter writing the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination, 45-year-old Rajkumar Pope was killed in what relatives described as a senseless and unprovoked attack. Police confirmed yesterday that a 17-year-old suspect who lives in the same community as Pope has been detained in connection with the killing. The suspect is a relative of 13-year-old Mariah Seenath, who was murdered last September. As Pope’s wife, Annie, tried to make sense of the incident at their Friendship Village home yesterday, she said they were all in good spirits on Thursday, as their 11-year-old daughter sat the SEA exam. She, her husband, their 17-year-old son and her sister picked up their daughter after the exam. Eventually, her husband dropped them off at Gulf City Mall, San Fernando, and he returned home to feed their dogs and work in the yard. Later on, he picked them up and on their way home, he stopped around 6.30 pm at a mini mart in St John’s Village, which is a short distance away from their home, to buy bread for Annie’s mother. Pope said she saw the suspect, whom she recognised from a video that was circulating on social media last week, looking at their car through the glass door of the business place. She said neither she nor her husband ever had any prior interactions with him. She said they felt uncomfortable, and her husband suggested that they go elsewhere, but then changed his mind. As her husband entered the business place, Pope said the suspect suddenly attacked her husband, choking his neck and punching him. She recalled that her husband defended himself and they began fighting. She said the suspect’s father was in the store holding a young child. She came out of the car and, together with the suspect’s father, separated them. Her husband’s eyes were severely swollen after the incident. When they got home, he went on the bed and complained about pains to his head. They eventually called the ambulance, but his condition took a turn for the worse. Blood began flowing from his mouth and nose, and he slipped into unconsciousness. He died just after 9 pm while being attended to at the Princes Town health facility. Lamenting that Thursday was supposed to have been a joyous occasion, Pope said she still doesn’t understand what happened. “He was such a wonderful person. All his workers, everybody calling my phone, they just can’t believe this.” Pope said her husband worked at the Engineering department at the Ministry of Agriculture and was a decent, hardworking and caring person. They had been married for almost 17 years and he was also the sole breadwinner in the family. One of her husband’s main focuses, she said, was to ensure his children got a proper education. “I don’t know why, why this happened,” she lamented. However, she believes that it was a random attack. “I believe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said. A person who knows the suspect said he has been under emotional stress since Mariah’s murder. An autopsy is expected to be done next week at the Forensic Science Centre, St James. Officers of the Homicide Bureau Region 3 are continuing enquiries.