Mother, two children died of blunt force trauma in Tobago

NINETEEN days after Sarah Smith, 33, and her children Genuine, three, and Phoenix, one, were found dead in an abandoned water tank in Parlatuvier, a forensic pathologist has determined they all died from blunt force trauma.

The trio were found around 5.30 pm on September 11 after Sarah’s mother Jacqueline Wayne reported them missing to police on September 2.

Speaking with Newsday on September 30, ACP Oswain Subero said the autopsies were held at the mortuary of the Scarborough General Hospital earlier in the day.

He said investigations into their deaths continue.

“We have to wait for another report, but as it is now all we have is blunt force trauma.”

He said the incident would still be treated as a murder “until we get the other set of information to guide us, and this situation is clarified. When the coroner prepares his report, it would guide us further.”

Snr Supt Earl Elie confirmed this.

“We’re still awaiting the toxicology report. They would have taken samples from the bodies to be analysed, so we would await that."

Newsday contacted Wayne by phone on September 30 but she was too distraught to speak.

The arrival of a forensic pathologist in Tobago came as a relief as several families had been unable to make funeral arrangements for their loved ones.

On September 25, Wayne complained about the delay in doing the autopsies.

“It is too nerve-racking. I need some kind of closure,” she told Newsday then.

“We could get all of the information (for the investigation) afterwards, but let us just put them down (burial) and deal with that. How do you deal with just waiting? I don’t know how. I am confused.”

Two families in Argyle were also waiting for autopsies after their relatives were murdered.

Nicholas "Daddy T" Mitchell, 32, was shot at his home in Argyle on September 22. His mother, who was nearby and heard the gunshots, later found her son's body.

On September 20 another man was shot and killed near his home in Argyle. He was identified as Brandon Edwards, 27, of Lammy Road.