UNSOLVED MYSTERIES

Francis Joseph

It is no mystery that Dole Chadee ordered the hit which killed four members of a Williamsville family.

It is no mystery that he was found guilty and together with eight members of his gang, he was executed in June 1999.

But why did Chadee order such a hit?

Even British Queen’s Counsel Sir Timothy Cassel, who prosecuted the Chadee case, had no idea why the Piparo Don killed the family. He opened his case to the jury in 1996 at the special Chaguaramas High Court.

Cassel gave the facts, along with the account of accomplice witness Levi Morris, and the deposition of slain witness Clint Huggins.

But nowhere in the case was there any mention of a motive as to why Chadee ordered such a brutal hit.

Chadee did not wake up one day and decide to wipe out an entire family. There was a reason.

After 14 years of such a dastardly act, a motive has surfaced.

Hamilton “Mice” Baboolal, his sister Monica, mother Rookmin, and father Deo, were shot dead on the morning of January 10, 1994. Deo was shot dead as he returned home. Mice, Monica and Rookmin were shot in the head, execution style.

Mice was a member of the feared Chadee gang. He worked alongside a number of people who assisted in receiving shipments of cocaine from Colombia and ensuring that they went to North America and Europe.

Sometime during his “employment” with Chadee, Mice stole some cocaine from the boss. When the cocaine was discovered missing, Chadee sent a message to Mice, asking him to “kindly return the cocaine or be dealt with.” Chadee even offered to accept the equivalent in cash.

According to an informant who contacted the T&T Guardian this week, Mice challenged his boss and sent a message back to Chadee: “I will kidnap your son, leave me alone.”

Who tell Mice say that? Chadee got mad as hell and summoned Joey Ramiah to his Piparo house and later to his Falcon Crest farmhouse.

Chadee told Ramiah that he had to send a message to Mice that such threats would not be tolerated. Chadee wanted to deal with Mice once and for all. He summoned the gang to his farmhouse in Piparo late on the night of January 9, 1994.

Chadee handed out guns and masks to Ramiah and members of his feared gang. He made it quite clear that he wanted Mice and everyone in that Williamsville house dead. The gang drove off after midnight and went straight to the Baboolal house. Special Reserve Policeman Clint Huggins broke down the door of the house and the rest of the gang invaded the house.

Mice, Monica and Rookmin were shot dead in the house while Deo was confronted on the steps and fatally shot. Morris, a member of the gang, felt sorry for two young children and hid them under a bed. Their lives were spared.

The gang escaped after the bloodshed and Ramiah reported to Chadee that everyone was dead. Ramiah said no life was spared. He did not know that two children were spared.

The killings remained unsolved for four months before Huggins gave a statement to the police about the entire affair. Not even Huggins knew why Chadee wanted the family dead.

One Saturday in May 1994, the police rounded up Chadee and the gang and they were charged with murder. Morris was also charged, but he turned State witness after Huggins was killed.

Huggins testified at the preliminary inquiry at the Princes Town Magistrates’ Court in 1994. He was placed in a safe house at Crow’s Nest, Teteron Barracks, Chaguaramas. He had a habbit of running away to lime, in particular, Sangre Grande, where he lived with his wife and infant child.

In 1994, there was an attempt on his life while in the safe house. Chadee paid $1 million to a woman and two soldiers to poison Clint while in protective custody. But one of the soldiers, Pte Eric Williams squealed to the authorities and the then Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier Ralph Brown, set up a string operation to catch the suspects.

The army and police faked Clint’s death to the point that a bogus post-mortem examination was performed by forensic pathologist Dr Ramnath Chandu Lal at the Forensic Science Centre. It was only after the police caught the suspects going to collect the money on the Brian Lara Promenade, Port-of-Spain, that the fake death was revealed.

Two people were convicted and sentenced to ten years in jail for conspiracy to kill Clint Huggins. Despite the attempt on his life, Clint left the safe house at will.

On February 17, 1996, Clint left the safe house to spend the Carnival weekend in Sangre Grande. He was seen in a popular bar in his community. It was there he was grabbed on February 20, 1996. His body was later found hanging out of his car on the Uriah Butler Highway, Mount Hope. Clint was shot, chopped, stabbed and part of his body burnt.

Chadee had offered $3 million to people to kill Huggins. Mission accomplished.

There was celebration in the remand yard. The only eyewitness to the killings was dead. His deposition was insufficient for a successful prosecution. One of the accused, Morris, decided to turn State witness.

He pleaded guilty to the four counts of murder and was sentenced to death. His death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by the then president, Noor Hassanali.

Morris gave evidence and Chadee and eight members of his gang were convicted and sentenced to death on September 3, 1996. No money was ever paid to Huggins’ killers.

So Huggins’ killers and associates decided to hit back. On December 20, 1997, Chadee’s brother, Thackoor Boodram, was kidnapped from his farm in Spring Village, Valsayn, and a $5 million ransom was demanded for his safe release. They wanted the $3 million for killing Huggins and a $2 million bonus.

But Chadee, who was on death row, refused to pay and the kidnappers killed Thackoor. His head was found in a whiskey box at the Caroni cremation site on December 31, 1997. His body was burnt in Valencia.

Ten men were arrested and charged and later sentenced to death for killing Thackoor. They lost their appeals and are serving life sentences in prison.

Three men were charged with Huggins’ murder and sentenced to death by Justice Alice Yorke-Soo Hon on May 8, 2003.

They appealed, but the Court of Appeal, comprising Justices Roger Hamel-Smith, Margot Warner and Paula Mae Weekes, dismissed their appeal on April 21, 2005. They lost their appeal before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council this year.

Morris spent a few years in custody and was pardoned. He has gone abroad with his family and is living a new life in a foreign country.

DOLE CHADEE..a brutal killer