(Trinidad Express) A family has been left in a traumatised state after two members were murdered and two seriously wounded at School Trace, New Grant, on Sunday night.
“How I taking this and how I feeling are two different things because the husband and the daughter in the hospital. I don’t know if anyone could survive it yet and two already dead,” pensioner Myna Jagroop told the media.
Jagroop’s son-in-law, Anterro McQueen, 52, was chopped on his neck and died outside her home after a relative of the family called out to him and his wife, Indra, and they walk-ed outside around 10.30 p.m. on Sunday.
Indra, 42, ran to help him and was chopped on her shoulder and face. Her left hand was also severed.
Manickchand Jagroop, 72, the patriarch of the home, who heard the commotion and ventured outdoors was chopped on his face.
The attacker then made his way across the road to the home of 35-year-old Monica Jagroop, another of Myna’s daughters. She was chopped several times about her body and died as a result.
The 33-year-old man who committed the acts fled the scene.
Monica, who was unemployed, had two daughters ages 15 and 13.
McQueen, a straightener who had children from a previous relationship, was the father to two minors he had with Indra.
Land dispute?
Recalling the incident, Myna Jagroop, 71, said she heard talking and when she walked outside she heard her daughter bawl.
She said she saw McQueen sitting, with his head leaning on one of the cars in the yard. She was told he was chopped.
She believes the relative who did the chopping had been drinking alcohol before the incident. “Somebody must be irritate him down the road and he come and take it out here. All what he wanted to do, he do,” she said.
Police however said a land dispute is believed to have led to the incident.
Another relative was adamant that a religious ceremony which involved the slaying of a goat led to the mayhem. “Everything gone crazy. Constantly it start having problem, before that everybody was good and normal,” Ricky Jagroop said.
He said the attacker was a straight-forward person who would speak loudly and curse but was not one to behave in such a violent manner. Ricky said the man was jumping three feet in the air and swinging the cutlass during the incident.
He said there were disputes over the ceremony as it was unclear why it was being done. He added that the suspect had even left after discussions about the ceremony but returned about three weeks ago. Ricky said fruits were used in ceremonies in the past but for the first time an animal was slain.
He was in shock over the killing and wounding of his relatives. “It’s something which we never expect, never expect this,” he said.
Police officers were again on the scene yesterday and the search continues for a construction worker in relation to the incident. The father of two who recently separated from his wife, remained on the run up to yesterday evening.
