Murdered nurse defended those she loved

Nurse Hermina Faith Doughty was a tomboy who was afraid of no one. She always felt the need to defend someone who she determined needed her help.

Doughty always defended the defenceless, according to her sister, Independent Senator Hazel Thompson-Ahye, who gave the eulogy at Doughty's funeral yesterday at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Independence Square, Port of Spain.

Doughty's light and spirit were dimmed when she was abducted and killed. Her decomposing body was found last week Saturday in a barrel at St Michael's Road, Tacarigua.

She was 71 and a retired nurse. She was also a Florence Nightingale recipient for excellence in nursing .

Kerry Phillip, 30, a father of one and labourer of North Eastern Settlement, Ojoe Road, Sangre Grande, appeared before Arima Magistrate Cheron Raphael on Wednesday charged with her murder.

Thompson-Ahye said Doughty was the one who defended her brother when he was being bullied in school. No one dared touch her brother.

She also said, "Education was important to her. She always felt that education was something to grasp with both hands. She was a person of integrity and could not abide people who shirked their responsibility."

She said Doughty never raised her voice in anger and genuinely cared for people.

Mourners included Opposition senator Khadijah Ameen and Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi.

Father Dexter Brereton officiated at the funeral and the body was interred at Lapeyrouse Cemetery.