Matelot police officer, 2 women charged with conspiracy to murder

A police officer and two women are expected to appear before a Sangre Grande magistrate today to answer to several charges, among them conspiracy to murder.

PC Randolph Dandrade, a Matelot police officer; Laura Roberts, 33, from Sangre Grande; and Chantel Lopez, 26, from Arima were all slapped with the charges by Cpl Guy of the Sangre Grande CID.

They include robbery with aggravation and malicious damage.

Police said that around 8.30 pm on August 5, a 38-year-old ambulance driver from Baboolal Trace, Sangre Chiquito, was at home when he was visited by an estranged lover, allegedly one of the two women.

The man agreed to give the two women a lift to Sangre Grande in his car, which he said cost $40,000.

About 20 minutes later, at Adolphus Cox Circular, Sangre Grande, he stopped the car to let the women out. One woman grabbed him and the other, armed with a needle with a chemical substance, stuck him in the neck.

The driver, afraid for his life, got out of the car and flagged down a silver Nissan Tiida. The women slammed the driver’s car into the Tiida, then drove off.

The driver was taken to the Sangre Grande police station, where he made a report, and an all points bulletin was put out for the car. Police eventually found it burnt and abandoned on Clarke Trace, Plum Road, Manzanilla.

Both women were eventually found and arrested and their arrests led to the arrest of Dandrade.

They were charged based on advice given by the Director of Public Prosecutions.