A difficult task is facing the police as they prepare to investigate the murderous shooting that occurred in Petit-Verger last Thursday resulting in the killing of three people before the murderer shot himself. Meanwhile, a whole family is completely traumatised and only time will help ?heal the wounds?. Even though disputes seemed to have been recurrent between the members of the Bhugeloo family, no one would have imagined such a violent scene could ever happen.

The questioning of the members of the family who witnessed the horrifying event and who might have details about problems within the family should give a first attempt at an explanation of the events of last Thursday. Some people are already talking of quarrels over inheritance issues and the family plot of land in Petit-Verger.

On Thursday afternoon, Eshan Bhugeloo?s wife, who is said never to have got on well with her husband?s relatives, allegedly called her husband in his snackbar to tell him there had been an argument between their son and Eshan?s brother, Farzley, over a problem of a mat on which the small boy had slipped. Eshan had rushed back from work, looking for his brother with an iron bar ? already a sign that the situation was tense? And this was followed by a real escalation of violence!

<I>Even though most members of the Bhugeloo family have refused to state the reasons for such hatred, it was revealed that a problem of inheritance was at the centre of the conflict. </I>

The ?criminal madness? of Eshan led him to shoot Farzley and another brother, Farook, who was trying to calm him down. A 65 year-old neighbour, Dawood Doomun, who was wondering what was happening at his neighbours? place, tried to reason with Eshan but it was to no avail. He too was shot several times and died on the spot. Other random shots hit another brother, Baboo who died yesterday after four days in a critical state at the hospital. His wife and a 17 year-old nephew were also injured but their lives are not in danger. The ?carnage? ended when Eshan stopped on the side of the road and committed suicide in front of shocked on-lookers.

Even the police who arrived on the spot meanwhile only managed to make the situation even tenser, as Eshan shot at their car. They had to retreat and watched the scene incapable of doing anything. However, some who were present expressed regrets that the police did not try and interfere in the massacre. ?I can?t understand why the police did not use their guns. Even if he had killed more people, it seems they would not have moved,? comments a traumatised neighbour.

Even though most members of the Bhugeloo family have refused to state the reasons for such hatred, it was revealed that a problem of inheritance was at the centre of the conflict opposing Eshan and his brothers. Eshan was seen as someone quite impulsive and the difficult relationship between his wife and the members of his family cannot have improved matters. It is even said that Eshan had already threatened to use his gun to sort out his problems with his brothers.

Many family members were involved in the business of taxidermy, which they had learned from their father ? famous both locally and internationally. Many of his sons had inherited his passion for hunting which explains the facility with which Eshan resorted to using a gun. The Bhugeloo brothers actually had fourteen guns in their possession but the police are adamant that all of their fireams permits were in order.

Eshan leaves a wife and two small children who may never understand the reasons for such anger. Other family members are still in shock and are now trying to live with what they saw on this Black Thursday on their premises in Petit-Verger. The relatives are however afraid that the tension between the brothers of the family may have repercussions on the relationships between the cousins of the next generation. They are afraid that a feeling of frustration and bitterness will remain after such a horrendous event and that the desire for revenge will persist?