Daughter cries out for justice for murdered dad, brothers

A daughter is crying out for justice as she prepares to bury her father and two of her brothers who were executed in Mayaro on March 11. George told the Newsday on Tuesday,

“I bury my father and brothers with a heavy heart on Wednesday. “Anybody would want justice. “At the end of the day, I just want to bury my relatives. “Everyone is depending on me, so after the funeral I would speak to the police and hope they make a breakthrough with their investigation.”

On March 11, shortly after midnight, Jeremiah George, 20, his brother Marcus Buddy, 37, and their father, Buddy George, 59, all of Martha Street, Couva, along with gardener Dion Keyon Mendoza, 29, were killed at an agricultural camp at Basil Trace, Bristol Village, Mayaro.

The men were asleep when six heavily armed men dressed in police tactical gear called them out of the camp. The four were made to lie on their stomachs and each one shot at the back of their heads.

George, another one of her sisters and one-year-old nephew who were also at the camp, were spared. “They were shot in front of me,” George said.

She said she had no time to grieve because she had to take care of funeral arrangements, but the horror of witnessing the execution of family members had taken a toll on her. “I am taking it one day at a time, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. “This is so unfair. They just killed innocent gardeners. Unarmed people who were asleep.”

Nine days later, police are no closer to finding the perpetrators although Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher said the quadruple killing was of national concern and engaging the attention of several police agencies.

Harewood-Christopher also said she was concerned by killers’ use of blue lights and police uniforms resembling that of bonafide police. A clear motive is yet to be established for the killing although family members told the Newsday there were constant threats against the lives of members of the George family from gangs active in the community.

They said reports to the Couva police failed to elicit any help or investigations which prompted Buddy George to give up the family’s contracting business and migrate into the Mayaro forest to cultivate cocoa, poultry and other crops some three years ago.

George said one funeral would take place at the Pioneer Seventh Day Adventist Church, Couva, from 11.30 am for her father and brothers.

After the service, the bodies will be interred at the St Mary’s Public Cemetery, St Mary’s Junction, Freeport. She said Mendoza would be cremated by his relatives in Arima, at a later date.