(Trinidad Express) A three-year feud between neighbours in La Romaine is said to have led to the killing of a man and the burning-down of a house on Tuesday night.
Dareem Hamilton, 31, of Thompson Gardens, Tarodale, Ste Madeleine, was at the home of ex-girlfriend Cleopatra Blaize at Marjorie Street, when he was attacked by armed intruders who set the house on fire.
Police suspect Hamilton died after he was chopped multiple times, following which the four-bedroom board-and-concrete structure was engulfed in flames.
The cause of death will be determined after a post mortem.
Blaize, 45, said the incident occurred around 11.45 p.m., hours after an altercation with an 18-year-old woman who resides in the area.
In an interview with the media at the crime scene yesterday, Blaize said around midday on Tuesday, she and the teenager clashed on the street, even as police and soldiers stood nearby.
Speaking of the feud and what led to the physical confrontation, she said, “The young lady likes to film us and put us up (on social media). We decided to give her some of her own medicine (and film her). She left, walked up to me, and said, ‘Don’t film me.’
“She tried to take my phone away. I told her not to touch my phone, and I put my phone with behind my back.”
As the altercation escalated into a fight between the teenager, her boyfriend, Blaize and her 25-year-old niece, police intervened and arrested the 18-year-old woman.
Blaize said she went to the station, where she reported the incident, then sought treatment at the hospital.
She said Hamilton met her at the hospital around 1 p.m. and stayed until 11.30 p.m, then returned with Blaize, her niece, and her boyfriend Adrian to their house at Marjorie Street.
“I gave him (Hamilton) something to eat. As I came out of the bathroom, my niece ran inside and said, ‘Aunty Cleo, somebody in the house. We ran outside. My brother-in-law was in the yard when he saw three men came in—gunman, cutlass man and flambeau man. They tell him, ‘Freeze.’
“He ran and escaped through a neighbour’s yard. The men started to pelt bombs. While I was outside, I had a feeling someone was still inside. After they put out the fire, they saw his (Hamilton’s) body burnt. They chopped him, they killed him before they set the house on fire. He was a big, strong fella, so they know they would have gotten problems with him, so they had to take him out,” she said.
Blaize said Hamilton was released from prison about a week ago, after he served a sentence for a firearm-related offence.
Six people and Blaize lived in the house.
Blaize’s boyfriend, Adrian Scotland, said one of the intruders wore an orange coverall and carried a weapon that might have been a gun or a flame thrower.
“This is terrifying and traumatising,” said Scotland.
He estimated the damage to house and possessions at $250,000.
Detectives of the Homicide Bureau Region III and La Romaine and San Fernando Police and fire officers of the Mon Repos Fire Station responded, and are continuing investigations.