Les Coteaux man charged with attempted murder

Antonio Marcelle, 20, of Les Coteaux appeared in the Scarborough Magistrate First Court on Wednesday charged with attempted murder.

Marcelle, a labourer, stood before Magistrate Indrani Cedeno after allegedly setting 19-year-old Ellena Dial on fire on January 28 at Kilgwyn Bay.

He was not called upon to plead as the charge was laid indictably. Bail was set at $400,000 or $25,000 cash and he is expected to reappear in court on March 10.

Police sources told Newsday that intense and collaborative investigations between the Crown Point Police, Tobago Homicide Bureau and the Criminal Investigations Department came to an end on Carnival Monday.

Newsday understands that the woman told police she was at an area near Kilgwyn Bay, when two unknown men doused her with a flammable substance and set her on fire.

We are told that the woman ran to the Apex Restaurant at Kilgwyn Extension, Canaan for assistance. An EHS ambulance was called and she was taken to the Scarborough General Hospital for treatment.

It is reported that Dial suffered third-degree burns to her face and upper body, while also receiving a stab wound to her left forearm and cuts to her forehead and neck.

She was airlifted to Trinidad for further medical treatment and remains in critical condition at a medical institution. Police declined to say which hospital Dial was at for "security reasons."

Woman Police Sergeant Kathlyn Sterling of the Crown Point Police Station laid the charge.