Updated: Murder suspect asked neighbour for shovel to bury body

A 25-year-old woman is in custody after she chopped a 74-year-old man to death and went to her neighbour’s house to ask for a shovel to bury the body.

Police said the man, Trevor Johnson, was at his Savannah Drive, Matura, home at around 1.30 am yesterday when the woman visited him.

The suspect claimed Johnson solicited sex from her. She got angry, left his house and came back with a cutlass, chopping him on the left side of his neck.

She then went to one of his neighbours to ask for a shovel, saying “I just killed someone.”
Villagers made a citizens’ arrest and called the Sangre Grande police. Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman, who operates a burger cart in the area, is in custody.

In other news, a 32-year-old Valencia woman is expected to appear before a Port of Spain magistrate charged with the possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking after she was arrested on Monday night.

Newsday understands the woman was spotted by Cpls John, McShine and PC O’Neil of the Port of Spain City Police Task Force, while they were on foot patrol along Abbatoir Road, at around 9.30 pm. They searched the woman and found 20 grammes of cocaine.

Police said the woman had several similar warrants for her arrest in Sangre Grande and they believed she was hired by a known trafficker in Sea Lots to transport the drugs.

Police are also warning the public that a Venezuelan man wanted for the murder of his roomate at a Cunupia apartment on Sunday may try to return home to Venezuela, using a fishing boat.

The man reportedly had an argument with Jose Herminez, 33, another Venezuelan, at the Adjodha Trace, Cunupia, apartment they shared, at around 7.30 am. The man got a knife from the kitchen and stabbed Herminez several times before running away. Herminez died at the scene.
Central Division police said they have not arrested the suspect as yet, but said it was “highly likely” he might try to escape the country if he had not done so already.