Street dweller found dead of stab wounds at Paradise Cemetery

A street dweller was found dead on a gravesite at the Paradise Cemetery in San Fernando with multiple stabbed wounds before dawn.

The police did not know the victim's identity, but fellow street dwellers said the victim was known only as "Ole Yankee" and "Badlash."

He was in his 60s and had been deported from abroad about ten to 15 years ago.

Reports are he was last seen alive at around 3 am on Saturday playing cards with someone on the concrete tombstone. Other socially displaced people were nearby when the man attacked Ole Yankee. They ran, fearing for their lives.

One street dweller, who asked not to be named, said he was earlier liming with Yankee when a man "with bad vibes" joined the group. He said he felt uneasy in the man's presence and left around 3.05 am.

He later learnt that a man stabbed Yankee to death.

"The card game started nearby at Lord Street, but people were passing. We went to the cemetery, where it was more private. It was a piper's lime. Ole Yankee was a good man. He never interfered with people," the street dweller said.

"He was a hustler and not a beggar. He always kept himself looking clean. He stayed all over in Sando."

While the deceased was a robbery victim, he always defended himself.

"People robbed him before, but he defended himself. It was not easy for people to take advantage of him. The man (killer) might have targeted him for his money because he was playing cards."

He speculated that Ole Yankee might have brushed off the man and in turn, the man attacked him.

"I know the fella (suspected killer) by face. I don't know his name or where he is from. He and Ole Yankee had no previous altercation. But when people use drugs, they get 'tizic'. It is a mind-altering thing," the man said.

He said many illegal activities occur in and around the cemetery. No one has been arrested. San Fernando, as well as Homicide Bureau Region III police, visited the scene and gathered evidence.