Let me go to Abigail’s funeral

NALINEE SEELAL

POLICE yesterday blanked a 35-year-old man’s tear-filled plea to attend the funeral of his ex-lover Abigail Chapman and her teenage daughter Olivia, who were among four people murdered by him last week at a house in Sobo Village, La Brea.

The man was arrested on Sunday morning at a quarry in Valencia after being on the run since last week Tuesday, when he bludgeoned retired teacher Michael Scott, 69, to death outside his house and then used a knife to slit the throats of Scott’s tenant Abigail Chapman, 41, her daughter Olivia Chapman, 16, and her schoolmate and best friend Michaela Mason, 14. He has since confessed to the crimes.

As he sat alone in a cell at a police station in Southern Division, the man who hails from Pt Fortin and is a mason and PH driver, asked officers if it would be alright if he could attend the funeral tomorrow for Abigail and her daughter. This request was flatly denied as officers have deemed the man a high-risk prisoner and it would be a security risk to allow him to attend the funeral.

Even when he wept and begged, the man’s request was turned down. A male relative of the suspect, who arrested on suspicion of harbouring the fugitiv, was released late Sunday evening after claiming not knowing that the murder suspect was hiding in a house which he owned.

Investigators yesterday told Newsday that the suspect is very familiar with the forests in East Trinidad and after committing the murders, he planned to lay low in Valencia and later try to leave the country. A knapsack the suspect had when he was held, contained clothing and a box of matches. He had no cellphone on him but police believe the man was in constant contact with someone.

Police sources said that they plan to visit the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) sometime this week to get instructions on how to proceed in the investigations. Sources added that investigators are in the process of completing the file and that they had already gotten autopsy reports and photos of the weapons used in the murders.

Northern Division Crime Patrol Unit officers led by Sgt Vaughn Waldropt and including PCs Vieira, Singh, Brown, Ward and Cupid arrested the suspect after receiving key information from a member of the public. The suspect was held near the St Alban’s Quarry in Valencia.