Hours after a San Fernando schoolgirl was shot inside an alleged sex and drug den at San Fernando Street, San Fernando, mattresses and sheets were carted out of the antique house by Cepep workers.
Meanwhile, the 17-year-old girl of San Fernando remains warded in a stable condition at the San Fernando General Hospital, recovering from surgery for the gunshot wound to her chest. When the T&T Guardian visited the house yesterday, the workers were also cutting the overgrown bushes surrounding the house. Looking on at the work, Vishnu Jaimungal, who owns the house known as the mansion, said he never knew of the illicit activities taking place there.
Jaimungal said he knew that the street was noted for having several sex and drug dens and although he frequently passed there, he never wondered what was happenings inside.
He said the house was over 40 years old. He explained: “My father bought this house and fixed it and we had a tenant here. The tenant left it about eight to ten years ago and we were going to try to bring back the house to its original state.
“If you go inside, you will notice it is a sound house, the flooring is good and it is just the ceiling that is made of thin ply that dropped. From next year we planned to do work on it. “It is a sad thing that happened but due to the situation I am grateful for the assistance from the corporation because on my own I would have had plenty opposition to get the building cleaned up because of the nature of the street. “People were occupying the house. It would have been a risk on my life to enter the property.”
Although San Fernando mayor Kazim Hosein said the house was currently before the court for its dilapidated and abandoned state, Jaimungal said he never got notices from the San Fernando City Corporation.
He said it was only last night it contacted him. However, he said he gave Hosein an assurance to have the property secured so that children would not use it for those activities.
Told that residents wanted it broken down, especially after Williams was shot, he said:
“People could say that but if you do a survey on a lot of properties in this area, there are a lot of this same nature. I believed this property is about 50 per cent better that a lot of the other proprieties, so why not start with the others.