A mother and her teenage daughter were found dead inside their fire-damaged home in Malick, Barataria, on Friday, October 16, amid disturbing allegations of a violent home invasion.
The victims have been identified as Rosanna Ramlal, 47, a doubles vendor, and her 17-year-old daughter, Alina Ramlal, a student.
According to a police report cited by the Trinidad Express, four masked men dressed in dark clothing allegedly entered the family’s Seventh Avenue home around 2.40 p.m.
The report stated that Rosanna’s 20-year-old son was playing video games in the living room when he heard a disturbance coming from a bedroom occupied by his mother and sister.
Upon investigating, he reportedly encountered four masked men assaulting his mother and demanding money.
The Express reported that both women were shot before their bodies were allegedly doused with methylated spirits and set alight. The son was also reportedly beaten, sustaining injuries to his face, hands and upper body.
However, the circumstances surrounding the deaths remain under investigation.
In a separate report published on October 18, the Trinidad Guardian stated that police had not confirmed claims of a home invasion and were awaiting forensic autopsy results to establish how the women died.
Firefighters responding to the blaze discovered the mother and daughter’s remains on a bed inside a bedroom. The fire was reportedly confined to that section of the house, while ammunition recovered at the scene was processed by crime scene investigators.
Officers from the Region One Homicide Bureau of Investigations are continuing enquiries, alongside fire officials investigating the cause of the blaze.
Senior Superintendent Claire Guy-Alleyne has described the incident as tragic and appealed to anyone with information to contact the Morvant Police Station.
The investigation remains ongoing as authorities seek to establish precisely what happened inside the family home.
