Murder victim's daughter: Where is Mummy?

Too young to understand the concept of death, the three-year-old daughter of Stacy Gopaulsingh, who was chopped and killed early on December 23, has been constantly asking for her.

"She keeps asking for her mother. She does not understand what is going on," a relative told Newsday by phone on December 24.

The family, from Poui Road in St Mary's Village in Moruga, said the tragedy has "soured" all Christmas Day plans.

An autopsy was expected to be done on December 24, but as of 4.15 pm, neither relatives nor police could confirm whether it had been completed.

Gopaulsingh, 36, who was three months pregnant, worked as a judicial support officer (JSO) at the Trinidad South District Court in Princes Town.

The police were told Gopaulsingh was awakened by a phone call around 3 am on December 23.

She walked to the back of her wooden house while talking to the person on the phone.

An argument was heard about a laptop.

While her common-law husband, 42, was about to walk out to find out what was happening, a masked man pointed a gun at him and shouted, "Go back in your bed if you know what is good for you."

The common-law husband grabbed their daughter and jumped through the window at the front. He alerted a relative who lives nearby, and they accompanied him back to the house.

They found Gopaulsingh's body with multiple chop wounds in the living room.

She was wearing a white dress smeared with blood.

The laptop she used for work, a brown envelope containing $40,000 and US$800, and the wedding bands were missing. Her phone was also missing.

None of the items have been recovered.

Homicide Bureau Region Three police are investigating.