No autopsies yet on mother, 2 children found dead in water tank

AUTOPSIES on the bodies of Sarah Smith and her two children who were found dead at the bottom of a decommissioned Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) water tank in Parlatuvier, Tobago have not been done yet.

According to reports, Smith, 33, of Santa Cruz in Trinidad, along with two of her children, Genuine, three, and Phoenix, one, were found dead around 5.30 pm on September 11 in a metal water tank off Parrot Hall Main Road in Parlatuvier. Smith's mother had reported the trio missing to police on September 2.

Speaking with Newsday on September 17, a senior police source said the autopsies were not done yet. He gave no reason for the delay.

The incident left the community in shock as several people recounted meeting Smith and her children five months earlier when they moved to Tobago.

Shevonne Phillips Manning, who runs the United Friends Foundation in Parrot Hall, said she had assisted Smith when she moved to the island. She said Smith was behaving erratically in the days before she and her children went missing.

"She came Tobago to get away from whatever was in Trinidad and to start a new life. Unfortunately she ended up like this.

"We helped her with paying the rent, buying groceries and assisting her son, as one of them was going to school."