FAMILY ATTACKED

NEWSDAY REPORTERS

Yet another multiple-murder incident has been recorded in the country.

This time around, gunmen attacked a family who was asleep inside their Claxton Bay home during the early morning hours on Thursday. They shot a 33-year-old woman and her 19-year-old boyfriend dead and left the woman's 11-year-old son fighting for his life in hospital.

For the year, so far, there have been two triple murders and four double murders.

In the latest double murder incident, police said that at around 1.30 am, residents of Hill Top, Springvale in Claxton Bay heard multiple gunshots and a report was made to the police.

When officers arrived and entered the house, they found Cindy Joseph and her boyfriend Kadeem Elijah on the floor of a bedroom. On a mattress inside the same bedroom, the police found Joseph's son groaning in pain and bleeding heavily from gunshot wounds to his right leg.

They took the child to the San Fernando General Hospital. Police sources said the bullets not only fractured the boy's bones in his leg, but his veins were also damaged. Up to press time, he was warded in critical condition.

Police said a motive for the murder is yet to be established but there were signs of forced entry into the wooden structure. Police sources added that Elijah had recently moved into the area and residents were unsure of his background or where he last lived.

Around mid-morning on Thursday, when Newsday arrived, the doors and windows of Joseph's house was barred with lengths of wood. Residents said her relatives secured the windows and doors as they feared the house would be broken into and vandalised.

The bodies were removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for autopsies. Up to press time, no arrest was made. Detective Cpl Smith of the Homicide Investigations Bureau (Region III) is spearheading investigations.

DOUBLE MURDERS

* The first double murder recorded this year was on January 15 when Dr Rudradeva Sharma and Akeem Marine were killed in an incident in which the doctor's SUV was involved in a crash. Two men, including a 17-year-old, have since been charged and appeared in court for the murders of Sharma and Marine.

* On January 26, Jason Fernando and Marvin Pierre were gunned down at Laventille Road. Police said Pierre, 46, a PH driver of Block 22, Laventille was carrying passengers in his car when the attack happened at 5.20 am. As Pierre drove east along Laventille Road, gunmen came out from a nearby track and opened fire. Pierre and his passenger, Fernando, died at the scene. Another passenger was also shot but survived.

* On January 30, two men, including a Venezuelan living in TT for the last nine months, were murdered while they limed a short distance from their Farfan Street, Diego Martin homes.

According to police reports the two, Corey "Crime" Nickles, 39, and Venezuelan Edgar Yamil Viaje Mohammed, 22, were at the La Puerta Recreation Ground just at the end of Farfan Street when they were ambushed and shot. Both men died at the scene.

TRIPLE MURDERS

* The first triple murder for this year happened on January 6 when the bodies of Damien Chuniesingh, his sister Polly-Ann Chuniesingh and their uncle Randy Chuniesingh were found in their house at Getwell Avenue, Pinto Road.

Police initially thought the throats of the three were slit, but autopsies later showed they were all strangled. Investigators said the hands of the victims were tied using plastic tie straps and they were gagged to muffle their screams.

The back of the house is blocked off with a barbed wire fence, but investigators and relatives both said that a blanket was found thrown over the barbed wire, presumably allowing people to climb over the fence without being injured.

* The second triple murder this year took place on January 15, when the bodies of Jordan Archibald, 15, Dimitri Achibald, 19, and Nyron Samuel, 19, were found inside a wooden shack in Demerara Road, Wallerfield. All three had been shot multiple times. A fourth person, a 28-year-old man, was also found shot in the house but he survived and was taken to hospital.

Reports are that the victims were all asleep when men, dressed in uniform resembling those worn by police, arrived in a white Nissan X-Trail SUV, entered the shack and opened fire on the occupants. The gunmen then got back into the SUV which sped off.