The relatives of kidnapped and murdered Xtra Foods Supermarket CEO Vindra Naipaul-Coolman are remaining tight-lipped over Tuesday’s High Court ruling. Eight of the 12 men charged were acquitted after the trial which lasted for about two years. Her widower, Rennie, and one of her children, Shalene, refused to speak when contacted by the T&T Guardian yesterday.
Despite being questioned for over five minutes via telephone, Rennie made no comment about his feelings or the justice system.
“I have stayed quiet for long enough. It’s what Vindra would have wanted. I don’t want to be in the public domain. Please respect my wish.” He added: “You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
Naipaul-Coolman and Rennie, the second husband of Naipaul-Coolman, married on July 10, 2005. Naipaul-Coolman would have celebrated her 61st birthday this year. She had three children from her first marriage — Shalene, Rishma and Richard.
When T&T Guardian contacted Shalene, a real estate agent based in the United States, via SMS, she asked how the newspaper got her information and then never responded. The Grand Bazaar branch of Xtra Foods has also decided to withhold from making a statement.
On December 19, 2006, the 51-year-old businesswoman was shot and abducted from her home at Radix Road, Lange Park, Chaguanas. A $122,000 ransom was paid by her family but she was never released and her body never found.
Flashback
In April 2014, while under cross-examination, Coolman admitted he paid $75,000 to a con woman who confronted him in 2007 and promised to assist by bribing senior prosecutors into forgoing investigating him. He said he did that because of the fear of being innocently prosecuted for his wife’s kidnapping.
Questioned by defence attorney Mario Merritt, Coolman said he was told he would be charged innocently without evidence. He said he only realised he was being fleeced when the woman contacted him a second time and demanded a further payment.
Coolman was then the sixth State witness to take the stand in the Second Criminal Court, Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain.
Coolman told the court he called the police officer and then officers of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad. He also admitted to not helping his wife on the night she was kidnapped.