Grande man is murder No. 48

A Sangre Grande man became the year’s 48th murder victim when he was shot dead while sleeping next to his 17-year-old girlfriend in their apartment home during the early morning hours yesterday. For the same period last year, 39 people had been murdered.

Police said Garth Sansand, 28, was in bed at his Marchack Street, Foster Road home when a gunman burst in and shot him twice.

The gunman then left the house without harming the teen. Police said that her screams alerted neighbours who took Sansand to the Sangre Grande Hospital where he died while receiving treatment.

While police were processing the murder scene, members of the Police Service’s Victims Support Unit were on hand to comfort the weeping teen as she gave a statement to investigators and officers of the Child Protection Unit (CPU).

Police said Sansand was known to them and had been arrested for minor offences in the past. They have not determined a motive for his murder. The body was removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for an autopsy.