Bullet to the head: Another mother murdered in South

Another mother has been murdered in South Trinidad. However, unlike the first incident which was a case of domestic violence, this death police said, was an execution with the victim being shot through the head at point blank range.

The body of Vanessa Ali, a mother of two, who lived in Princes Town, was found at the side of an agricultural access road along New Colonial Road in Barrackpore at about 10.30 am yesterday. Police said that marks of violence including badly swollen eyes, suggests that Ali may have been beaten before she was shot.

As news of Ali’s death spread, many of her friends took to social media posting condolences on her Facebook page. Some lamented that Ali, said to be 23, met her grisly fate because of the company she kept. Ali was the mother of two young girls. Her body was discovered after police received an anonymous tip-off. At first, the body was unidentified as there were no forms of ID such as a driver’s permit or National ID card. Relatives later visited the scene and positively identified her. She was clad in a black strap top and a pair of shorts.

A close friend, who asked not to be identified, told Newsday that Ali had “issues” with a close male relative but she was warned on numerous occasions to stay away from him. Her body was removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for autopsy. No arrest has been made.

Two days earlier, on Tuesday, mother of two Arisa David became this country’s first female murder victim when she was found dead on the floor of her bedroom in her Chase Village home. David’s daughters, aged three and eight, who slept in the same bedroom alerted their grandmother when they could not wake her up, telling the victim’s mother: “mummy can’t wake up.”

A close male relative who later visited the home while police were still at the scene, was arrested and remains in custody. An autopsy revealed David was manually strangled.

She will be laid to rest today following a funeral at the house of mourning.

In an unrelated incident, police were still at the scene of a double-murder in Carapo Village after the bodies of two unidentified men were found. Both men were shot multiple times. The bodies were later removed to the Forensic Science Centre. Up to press time, the murder toll stood at 15 in the first four days of this year.