Attacker dies, stabbing victims live in fear

While the man who stabbed a 12-year-old girl and her mother has died, the victims continue to live in fear of the man’s relatives and associates who vow to kill them for alerting police about sexual assaults on the child.

As such, the worried 40-year-old mother of three has called on the authorities to, both, thoroughly investigate the matter and assist her in getting a safe place to live.

“We are not safe in that house,” the mother said yesterday. “Right now, I am staying by a relative and she does not have space. When my child comes out, we have to go home. The relatives of the deceased could come while we are sleeping and burn down the house with us in it.”

The family lives at St John’s Village in San Fernando.

The man, who ingested a poisonous substance, died on Wednesday at San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) just two days before his 35th birthday. He is expected to be cremated today at the Shore of Peace Cremation Site, La Romaine, following a service at the home of relatives in Barrackpore.

He stabbed the child three times in the chest and she remains warded at hospital while doctors discharged the mother on Tuesday.

At about 12.30 am on September 20, neighbours were awakened by screams and later saw the woman and daughter bleeding at the roadside. Two other children, five and 11, were found unharmed in the family house. Some 12 hours later, residents found the suspect hiding in the bush, frothing from the mouth.

“We were sleeping in the same bed when he came with a garden fork,” the mother told Sunday Newsday. “I tolerated his laziness. I tolerated a lot of things but when my daughter told me what he did, I couldn’t tolerate that. I never stopped bawling for help.”

The mother recalled that problems escalated on September 13, when she learnt the man had been sexually assaulting the girl since April. She immediately went to San Fernando CID hoping to get help and while the child was speaking a policewoman identified as WPC Phillip telephoned the mother.

“She said he was drinking poison and I told police one time. The hurtful thing is, he was at hospital and not a police went to talk to him. While I was sitting there listening to this child, I began to cry and cry.

“We took her to a health centre right after the report then police dropped us home. That was it with the police,” said the mother.

The mother learnt the man was promising to take the child to places and complimenting her for doing certain things. While the mother was at work at a food outlet, he would send the children outside to pick chadon beni and lock the doors.

The day after filing the sexual assault report she accompanied the child to the SFGH without the assistance of any police investigator. On September 15, the mother said she went to visit a justice of the peace without any luck.

“I had a lot of running around to do even before he came to kill us. The Saturday I went to Child Protection Unit and a woman only took the child’s statement. The next day I went back to the JP for a restraining order.

“The Tuesday (September 19) I went to court and let the magistrate know everything this man did to my child. She gave me a restraining order to drop to the police.”

That same night, residents spotted the suspect in the area. They learnt he had discharged himself from hospital.

On the brink of tears, the mother recalled that even as he held a knife to her throat she fought for dear life during the stabbing attack.

“My child pleaded with him to leave me alone. Instead he stabbed her too. Everyone was bawling and now my children are not in school. My son went to school and had to come back home because he just kept crying.”

“She is coming along at hospital,” when asked about her daughter’s condition. The mother is calling on the authorities to assist the family with counselling and housing saying she cannot do so alone and while living in fear.

“Since discharged, no one called me. Not police, not anyone from the hospital or from Child Protection Unit contacted me. No one is concerned about me, I heard that he died from relatives. The two younger children are asking to go the funeral but we want police protection.”

Contacted yesterday police said the Children’s Authority promised to offer counselling to the family. Police also said the matter was ongoing and they could not divulge further information.