(Trinidad Express) Masked men demanding cash and drugs chopped to death a Point Fortin man yesterday morning.
Martin Pattan, 34, was dragged out of his bed and forced to kneel in the living room as he was brutally chopped about the body, police said.
His teenage girlfriend and four-year-old son were locked inside a bedroom, guarded by a man armed with a cutlass.
The incident occurred at Walker Street, Egypt Village, at around 3.30am.
Police said Pattan, a scrap iron dealer, was asleep with his girlfriend when he heard noises inside the house.
His four-year-old son from a previous relationship was asleep in the same bedroom.
Police said Pattan opened the door and was ambushed by four men wearing masks. The men were armed with cutlasses and demanded cash and drugs.
A report stated that Pattan was taken to the living room where he was forced to kneel on the floor.
His 17-year-old girlfriend and the child were locked inside the bedroom.
Pattan was chopped multiple times and his throat slit, police said.
The teenager told investigators that the man guarding her and the child was instructed to “kill them too, they will talk”.
But she fought off the man and he ran out of the bedroom.
The teenager said she locked the door and waited until there was silence.
Police said she then ran to a nearby house and contacted the police.
Pattan’s house was ransacked by the men who took his television, cellphone and jewelry.
He died at the scene.
His son was taken to the Point Fortin Hospital for a blow to the head, relatives said.
The girlfriend suffered a minor bruise to the shoulder.
In an interview with the Express, Pattan’s mother said she was devastated by the killing.
Clara Pattan said she was contacted at daybreak by her daughter.
“My daughter get a message that her brother get killed and when we came the police were here. He lived there with a girl. She was there when they kill him. His four year old son was with him. He lives with his mother in Icacos but he come up and spend time with his father,” she said.
Pattan said her son was loving person, he was not perfect but he was loving to his family.
“He never treat people bad. He used to hustle, old iron and scrap iron. Sometimes he does work with construction but it was slow. I don’t know why they killed my son,” she said.
Police said a search was conducted in the area but no one was detained in connection with the killing.
The stolen television, however, was found hidden in some nearby bushes.
