Boy, 17, to appear in court for baby’s murder

A 17-year-old male relative is expected, this morning, to appear in the Children Court at Fyzabad charged with murdering 15-month-old Racquel George, the daughter of two Special Reserve Police.

South-western Division police arrested him in Palo Seco on Thursday, a day after he went into hiding. They handed him over to investigators from Homicide Bureau (Region III) after an autopsy determined the toddler was beaten to death. It is believed the killer sexually assaulted the girl before beating her to death.

Legal officer PC Kyrn Lewis submitted a file to the office of the DPP for advice on how to proceed. Late yesterday, police were advised to formally charge the boy with murder. Police were expected to lay charges last night.

Racquel’s mother, Charlene George, left the child in the care of the boy and went to work in central Trinidad. George, a single parent and mother of two, returned at about 8.30 pm and found the girl unresponsive. The mother and daughter live in a one-room ply house at Secondary School Road in Palo Seco which is sparsely populated. The girl’s father, also an SRP, lives in Erin.

The worried mother took the child to the Siparia District Health Facility, where doctors determined she had died. Insp Khan, Cpl Mungalsingh, PCs Aguillera and Heeralal and WPC Jeffrey, of the South-western Division Task Force, visited the house and went in search of the boy, who had gone into hiding. The next day Cpl Smith, PCs Durity and others from the Santa Flora Police Station captured him in Palo Seco.

Racquel’s funeral is scheduled to take place tomorrow in Chaguanas, then to the Los Bajos public cemetery for burial under Christian rites.