Man found dead in Maraval identified

SITTING at his father’s home in Sea Lots watching cartoons with his two-year-old sister, 24-year-old Marcus Edwin Clarke quipped to his 60-year-old father that if something should ever to happen to his father, he (Clarke) would have to assume responsibility for the toddler.

That was the day before Clarke’s body was found in Maraval a week ago.

“Now I may have to take care of his children,” said the dead man’s father at the Forensic Science Centre in St James on Thursday.

Clarke’s body was found wrapped in two bed sheets last Thursday afternoon. He was the father of two children, a boy and a girl, who are also two years old.

Police said the lower part of Clarke’s body was wrapped in a multi-coloured sheet, and his upper body was wrapped in a green sheet. His head was wrapped in a plastic bag, his hands were bound with duct tape and his arms were placed across his chest and taped down.

Police also said he was found with two gaping holes in his head. An autopsy confirmed that he was shot.

The father told Newsday he did not know of his son’s death until police arrived at his home and told him on Republic Day.

“That was a bad experience. He has friends he would go by and spend a few nights, and I know when he is finished working he might lime for a bit before he came home. So didn’t think anything of it really when he didn’t come back.”

The man described Clarke as a “good fellah” but said he made mistakes in the past which led to him crossing paths with the law. However, after his troubles, he opened a tattoo and piercing parlour on Charlotte Street in Port of Spain.

“I was glad for him when he got into the tattoo thing because, at the end of the day, it would keep him occupied and out of trouble.”

Police have not yet established a motive for the murder.