Straightener charged with murder of woman found burnt in Tobago

A STRAIGHTENER was charged on May 22 with the murder of 56-year-old Deborah Gopaul.

Gopaul's burnt body was found in a car on the Claude Noel Highway in Lowlands, Tobago, on March 26.

She was the island's sixth murder victim for the year.

There have been ten murders to date in Tobago.

Three of the victims were female.

A police press release on May 22 said Hilton Ollivierre, 49, of Crown Point, appeared virtually before Master Margaret Sookraj Goswami on the same day charged with the murder.

The sufficiency hearing has been set for January 30, 2025, the release said.

Police did extensive investigations and subsequently arrested Ollivierre.

He was charged on May 21 on advice received from Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard SC.

Tobago murders in 2024

• January 1 (New Year’s Day) - Sanitation worker Wanya Kareem Small shot dead at Patience Hill. Jamal Samuel, 20, of Signal Hill Main Road, later arrested and and charged with this murder.

• January 12 - The body of Akinde Bissoon is found at Old Grange Road around 8 am. Bissoon’s body bore marks of violence. No arrests in this case.

• January 25 - Nigel Julien, 44, also known as Tall Man, of Signal Hill/Lambeau Road, Signal Hill, is killed in a drive-by shooting.

• February 15 - Vernon Thomas, 66, of Mt Grace, becomes Tobago’s fourth murder when at around 9 pm, people liming in the Dutch Fort area hear gunshots. They later see a man running away and Thomas lying in the road with gunshot wounds.

• March 2 - Jafari Fraser crashes his car into a shop near the Pembroke Bay Road Bridge at around 4 am. When police check, they find him dead at the wheel. He had been shot multiple times.

• March 26 - Deborah Gopaul, 56, is found burnt in a car on the Claude Noel Highway in Lowlands.

• May 4 - The body of Mt Marie, Scarborough resident Shellon Walters-Joseph, 32, is found down a precipice in Mt St George. Her body has clear marks of violence.

• May 9 - Nikesha Sandy, 29, also known as "Stoonkie,” of Jaegers Hall Trace in Plymouth, is shot dead on Jaegers Hall Trace.

• May 15 - Anthony "Seeba" Maynard, 42, was liming with friends at Chatham Street when a station wagon pulls up. Two gunmen get out and shoot at the limers. Maynard is shot multiple times and dies shortly after. Three other men are also wounded but survive.

• May 18 - Samuel "Indian" Maharaj, 32, is found dead in bushes near the Mt Grace Open Bible Church. He was shot multiple times.