Relative of murdered woman appeals for help

DESPITE several visits to San Fernando West MP Faris Al-Rawi's constituency office, starting more than a year ago, Erica Williams said she is still on the waiting list to meet him.

The 50-year-old resident of Corinth Hills went to Al Rawi's office to request a recommendation for help from the Victim Support Unit (VSU) of TT. Williams is seeking assistance in the maintenance of a child of a murdered relative who was left in her custody.

Williams said she can no longer cope with maintenance of the 8-year-old child. She is the aunt of Eden Nekeisha Teesdale, whose headless corpse was found stuffed in a barrel near the Mitan River in Manzanilla in March 2016.

Following this discovery, Williams took care of the child who was six years old when her mother was murdered. "Now the child started attending primary school and she is in need of books, food, uniform, and transport fee amounting to $3,500 per month," Williams said. At the time of her murder, the child was in the care of Williams.

"I would look after this child for my niece when she worked night shift," Williams said, noting that following the death of Teesdale she continued to take care of the child.

She claimed that she also visited the office of VSU and the Social Welfare Office in San Fernando, but, she said, personnel at both offices did not treat with her. Williams said they told her she would be contacted but never was.

Williams told Newsday, today, that she has been an uphill struggle to get the child to adjust after her mother's death.

The child is now receiving psychological counselling from Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Teesdale, of Embacadere, San Fernando, had two other children. No one has been arrested for her murder.

Al Rawi did not answer calls to his mobile phone.