Noah’s relatives relieved suspect held

RELATIVES of slain 16-year-old Marabella schoolboy Noah Simmons expressed relief that police on Friday arrested a man for the killing.

“At the end of the day, any judgment does not belong to me it belongs to God. It is nice to know that the police held someone for the killing. But it is only when the person is convicted, and the sentence is passed, then I could say if I get justice,” Noah’s mother, Aneiasha Blackburn, told Newsday, yesterday.

Simmons, a Form Four student of Shiva Boys Hindu College, was shot and killed on his birthday on May 8.

The shooting took place next door to his home at Train Line, Union Park East, in Marabella, where he lived with his grandmother and other relatives.

Simmons was a member of the school’s football team and the Marabella Family Crisis Centre.

After the shooting, a 24-year-old man described by police as a contract killer had gone into hiding.

Snr Supt Zamsheed Mohammed led a manhunt for the suspect and this ended on Friday when police went to an

abandoned house at Cross Crossing, San Fernando, and arrested him.

Police said the man, originally from Pleasantville, gave himself up “without resistance.”

Last week police intensified their search and raided several homes in search of the man who is also the suspect in last Sunday’s murder of Chinese businessman Chao Zhia Zhong, 24, at his supermarket at Manahambre Road, Princes Town. Zhong was shot in the neck and face.

Yesterday, Simmons’ mother, who lives in Tobago, said whoever killed her son had no right to do so.

At the time of his killing, she was pregnant with her ninth child. On June 10, she delivered a girl, her only daughter, whom she named Norella.

“Her first name is Faith and her second is Norella in honour of Noah,” Blackburn said.

Another close relative told Newsday she was also relieved that police caught Noah’s killer.

“I have faith in the master. I always say that there is a God. Once you go down on your knees and pray to God and ask him for whatever you want, you will get it. I put my trust in Him. He takes care of your needs,” the relative said.

Up to yesterday evening, the suspect remained in police custody.

The suspect was one of several people arrested by the Southern Division police in an anti-crime exercise coordinated by Snr Supt Mohammed and supervised by ASP Peter Ramdeen, Insp Don Gajadhar and Sgt Keith Ifill. It included the Southern Division CID, Task Force and Intelligence Unit and included Cpls Bacchus, Phoolchan and Nanan. PCs Khallie, George, Ramdass, Abraham and Narine also assisted.