(Trinidad & Tobago Newsday) – Another murder-suicide has plunged a family in south Trinidad into grief, in which a husband stabbed his wife to death then hanged himself. The tragedy occurred hours after a similar incident in Tobago, in which a man slit his wife’s throat on Friday night then ingested poison.
The incident happened at about 4 am on Sunday at Clegorn Village, Princes Town, when Guyanese national Cecil ‘Christmas’ Roberts, 48, had an argument with his wife, Eastlyn Patterson, 41, in their bedroom. He married the woman six months ago and according to a police report, Patterson’s 17-year-old son, Stephenson Thomas who was in an adjacent room, was awakened by the commotion. He told police investigators that when he heard his mother screaming, he pushed his way into the bedroom and saw his stepfather stabbing his mother who was lying on the floor.
The police report stated that Thomas ran out the room and towards the home of relatives nearby. Villagers told Newsday that they heard Thomas screaming on the road. When relatives, together with Thomas, turned up at the house, they saw Patterson lying in the bedroom in blood. The blade of a knife was sticking out of her chest.
They saw Roberts in another room hanging from a piece of electrical wire which was tied from the ceiling of the family’s house.
Police investigators who arrived on the scene and viewed Patterson’s body, said the woman was stabbed more than 20 times in the face, chest, neck, and abdomen.
Patterson’s brother, Alrick, 35, who lives in Princes Town, told Newsday that on Saturday night, he dropped his sister and Roberts to their home after they attended a Christening ceremony at the Princes Town Community Centre. Expressing shock over the incident, Alrick said, “Listening to Roberts speaking to his wife, it appeared that he was going through some problems. I was driving and they were in the car and he looked upset. He started talking about not being able to find a job. He was doing all the talking and Eastlyn was quiet. But he seemed frustrated,” Alrick said.
Roberts came to Trinidad from Guyana three years ago and six months ago he married Patterson, who has six children from a previous marriage.
Thomas was too distraught to speak to Newsday yesterday. He is currently taking the CSEC examinations.
Alrick said, “This boy actually saw his mother stabbed several times. He is so frightened, and he is not talking much. Is like his life ended. I don’t know how he would get through this.”
On Friday night around 10.30, Ramdarasa Jagroo, 39, slit the throat of his wife, Sunita, 28, then drank a poisonous substance. That incident happened at Happy Hill, Tobago.
