(Trinidad Guardian) Returning home from work yesterday morning, Marcus John met a chilling sight. His eight-year-old stepson Noel Thomas lay lifeless, murdered in his sleep with a single stab to his neck. His common-law wife Hollice Thomas, 40, lay on the bedroom floor, fighting for breath, as blood poured from a wound on her neck.
Before she died at the San Fernando General Hospital, Thomas tried to mutter the name of their attacker.
Standing at the murder scene while undertakers removed the bodies, John appeared dazed, his eyes bloodshot. Clutching the door of a car, he whispered: “Doh ask me nothing now, please. A little later. I cannot deal with this right now.”
In a statement given to police, John said he left home at 6 am to go to work. He came home at 9 am and called out to Thomas, who was supposed to be with Noel at the time. There was no answer.
As John walked into the house, he saw blood on the bedroom floor. Then he saw little Noel lying dead on his bed, his body still warm. There was a gaping wound to the child’s neck.
Horrified, John then saw Thomas lying at the side of her bed, gasping for breath. She too was bleeding from the neck. She was still conscious but couldn’t speak.
Thomas was rushed to the San Fernando General Hospital, where she died shortly after.
A neighbour who requested anonymity said the family had moved into the apartment building less than six months ago. They lived downstairs while other families lived upstairs. Despite their close proximity, they kept to themselves.
“I would see her but I didn’t know anything about her,” the neighbour said.
Noel attended the Ste Madeleine Government Primary School, while Thomas worked as a security guard.
Jennifer Ramdin, 78, who lived opposite them, said she saw Thomas on the porch hanging up some clothes a few hours before her body was found around 9.05 am.
“It is so frightening. I am shaking right now,” Ramdin whispered.
She recalled hearing some screams but did not investigate, as she thought people were playing on the road outside her house.
“People always making noise. At the time I didn’t think nothing about it,” she revealed.
Lamenting the state of crime, Ramdin said she was now afraid to come out of her home.
Meanwhile, police said Thomas and her son had been victims of domestic violence in the past.
Thomas was born in Guyana and attended the university in Guyana before moving to T&T. She got engaged in 2012 and was married one year later.
In 2019, Thomas reported that a male relative had attacked her and chased her then-four-year-old son Noel with a chopper. The relative was later charged with assaulting Thomas, occasioning a wound, and was jailed for a year. A medical report from the San Fernando General Hospital presented in court, showed Thomas suffered bruising and swelling to her right cheek, a laceration to her inner bottom lip, bruising and tenderness and blunt trauma to her head, which caused headaches.
At the time, the relative told the court he and Thomas had a “little argument” over an uncooked meal which later turned violent. Thomas told the magistrates she had another incident in 2018 and was afraid for her life, but the police never took her report seriously. Apart from the crime involving Thomas and her son, the relative also faced other charges of attempted murder against another person.
Police said while they cannot link yesterday’s murders to the 2019 attacks, they were searching for a suspect. The murder weapon was also recovered.
Officers of Homicide Region III, headed by Assistant Supt Persad, Insp Dirk John and Insp Amzal Ousman, visited the scene, along with Supt Singh, Insp Roland Ramlogan, Sgt Noyan and Sgt Seeteeram.
Investigations are continuing.