(Trinidad Express) Mother of four, Rehana Jaggernauth, was beaten, stabbed and strangled before being thrown into the Guayamare River, where she drowned, an autopsy has found.
And her relatives are convinced that Jaggernauth was lured to her death by someone she knew.
“It has to be someone she knew. She would have never gone with a stranger.
I cannot believe someone could have done this to her. She did not deserve that,” a relative said yesterday.
An autopsy performed at the Forensic Science Centre in St James on Wednesday afternoon found that Jaggernauth died from manual strangulation and drowning.
But before the 33-year-old woman was tossed in the swollen river she was also beaten and stabbed.
The autopsy report stated that Jaggernauth was stabbed multiple times in the abdomen.
“We were told she had a broken neck, stabbed in the stomach and many other things. They tortured her,” the relative said.
Jaggernauth’s relatives are now praying that her murder does not go unsolved. “We want justice. She was such a nice person.
“She did not deserve this. If she quarrel with someone she would go back first and talk to them,” the relative said.
Jaggernauth’s semi-nude body was found floating in the Guayamare River, Caroni, on Sunday evening, three days after she told relatives she was going to a nearby mini mart.
She lived at Marac Village, Moruga, with her husband and three children, ages five, three and two.
Her 16-year-old daughter lives with her grandmother in Enterprise, Chaguanas.
was spending time in Enterprise last week where she was preparing for her deceased father’s 40-days prayer service on Saturday.
On that Friday afternoon she walked out to the road. “She called out to me and walked away.
She was wearing a tie-dyed top and leggings. In the evening, her husband told us she did not return home and we started looking for her,” a relative said.
The next day a missing person report was filed at the Chaguanas Police Station.
Relatives were told that Jaggernauth was seen walking with two men in Enterprise that same evening.
Relatives posted her photo to social media appealing to anyone with information on her whereabouts to contact them. No one called.
On Sunday evening, however, a group of men went fishing at the Guayamare River and discovered a semi-nude corpse floating in the water.
Jaggernauth’s relatives are appealing to anyone with information on Jaggernauth’s killing to contact the police.
Crime fighting mechanism
Earlier this month, in extending condolences to the bereaved family of murdered Kezia Jeneka Guerra, Deputy Commissioner of Police McDonald Jacob called on citizens to work with police, and to report any incidents of abuse or suspected criminal activity in a bid to prevent situations from escalating into violence.
He said as at November 4, 24 women had been killed in 2021 as compared to 47 in 2020. Since then, two more women have been murdered.
He said, “So while there has been a thankfully lower trend in that regard, it is still a matter of concern for us.
This is why the TTPS has launched initiatives such as the Community Justice Clinic (CJC), to provide free legal advice and services to communities throughout the country.
