(Trinidad Guardian) The gruesome discovery of the dead bodies of a man and his two toddlers at the side of a trace in Matura at 6 am on Sunday rocked the quiet east coast village. According to police reports, a pumpkin farmer found the bodies near his garden in Mora Trace, off the village’s main road.
A bottle of herbicide believed to be Gramoxone was on the ground near them and police suspect it may have been a case of murder/suicide, in which Barry Karimath, 34, poisoned his two-year old daughter Keyanna Mayers and 10-month old son Omari Mayers. Karimath, police said, lived in the South and the children lived with their mother, 24-year-old Okilia Mayers, in Barataria.
Karimath had custody of the children on Saturday. He owned a Black Mazda 323 but the vehicle was nowhere in sight. How he ended up in Matura is yet to be known. The farmer said around 9.30 pm on Saturday, he went to his “joupa” (hut) in his garden to spend the night and saw Karimath standing near the trace with Keyanna and Omari. Curious, he asked what he was doing there and Karimath replied he had paid a woman $6,000 for a bush bath and he was waiting for her.
The farmer said he retired for the night and when he rose at six the next morning, he saw the dead bodies of the man and two children and called the police. The police found Karimath’s cellphone and called the children’s mother who said she had tried calling him after midnight but he had not answered. She said she had texted him and he sent back a message saying he was going to kill himself and the children.
According to police reports, Okilia said she did not know where Karimath was and planned to call the police in the morning. Councillor for the Matura area Terry Rondon said the whole village, including children, trekked to the area to see the bodies. He said he cannot remember a murder like this involving children occurring in the area and said the young people are traumatised.
