(Trinidad Guardian) Instead of Christmas Day merriment, a Moruga family now has to plan the funeral of 36-year-old judiciary worker Stacy Gopaulsingh.
The mother of one was brutally hacked to death during the early hours of yesterday morning at her Poui Trace, St Mary’s Village home. She was almost decapitated and her wrist severed.
Her common-law husband Shane Gomez told police he managed to escape with their three-year-old daughter by jumping through a window.
Her killing pushed the toll for the year to 600 and was followed yesterday by two more in Chaguanas. The toll at the same time last year was 560.
When Guardian Media visited their home, Gomez said he needed to rest and declined to give an interview. He left shortly after in his vehicle.
He told police, however, that shortly before 3 am, they were asleep with their three-year-old daughter when Gopaulsingh’s phone began ringing. Gopaulsingh answered the phone and went outside to the back of the house.
Gomez heard three strange voices engaged in what sounded like an argument.
When he got up to investigate, he said a masked man confronted him outside his bedroom and shouted, “Go back in yuh bed if yuh know what good for yuh,” while pointing a gun at him.
He said the suspect demanded a laptop and money which he took. The items included a brown envelope containing TT$40,000, US$800 and two wedding bands.
Gomez said he grabbed his daughter and jumped through a window with her. When he returned shortly after, his wife was lying in a pool of blood on the living room floor.
Gopaulsingh’s father Georgie Shah, who lives to the front of Gopaulsingh’s home, said his daughter’s murder had left them confused and heartbroken.
He recalled that he heard Gomez bawling, “Ma! Ma!”
“I get up and run and open the gate,” he said, “‘They kill Stacy’.”
Shah went with Gomez back to the house, where they saw her lifeless body on the ground.
“I tell him to take a towel and cover she and he take the towel and cover she,” Shah said.
“I really don’t know what to think about this. If it is a robbery or what? I really don’t know.”
Asked about the prevalence of home invasions, he said, “I really can’t figure it out. It is very scary. Something is very fishy about it.”
Describing his daughter as a hardworking and loving person, the father of eight said she had three degrees and was pursuing a master’s degree. He said usually, they would have a family get-together for Christmas.
“I am the daddy, so we get together right here.”
He said two weeks ago, he carried Gopaulsingh and her mother shopping.
He said Gopaulsingh, a judicial support officer (JSO), worked in the Rio Claro and Princes Town Courts.
In a statement yesterday, the Judiciary said it was currently liaising with the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) about the incident. It said Gopaulsingh served as part of a team of staff supporting judicial officers in court.
