Merthlyn Scipio had made plans to celebrate Father’s Day with her common-law husband Winston Blaze on the Chaguaramas Boardwalk. Instead, yesterday she was recounting how he was killed by a close male relative on Saturday night.
Relatives said Blaze, 55, was trying to give fatherly advice to the 41-year-old suspect after he was disrespectful to his mother. An argument ensued which ended with Blaze, a farmer with the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, being killed outside his St Julien’s Village, Princes Town home.
Police said at around 7 pm, Blaze and the suspect were arguing in the yard when the suspect picked up a large stone and threw it at Blaze striking him on the neck. Blaze fell to the ground unconscious. His 26-year-old daughter Crystal tried unsuccessfully to revive him.
Princes Town police, including ASP Gomez-Cooper, Insp Yearwood, Sgt Ramlogan, Sgt Seepersad, PC Jackman and PC Mathura, went to the scene and arrested the suspect. Investigators are not sure whether he will face murder charges as there seemed to be no intent to kill Blaze.
However, that decision will be up to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
At their home yesterday, Scipio, a Cepep worker, she said she last saw husband alive when he dropped her off in the town to meet her colleagues for an outing on Saturday. It was during that trip, she got the sad news and immediately collapsed.
“My daughter told me she took him (Blaze) down the hill and (the suspect) stood on the platform here and pelt a stone and hit him on his head.
“She did not tell me anything, or if they told me I can’t remember.
“He (Blaze) used to tell him stop cursing his mother. That is what he told him yesterday and he continued doing. I don’t know what really went on after,” Scipio said.
A relative said Scipio fainted at home on Saturday and when she passed out yesterday, she was taken to a nearby health facility for treatment. Scipio’s brother Aulister said Blaze and the suspect argued constantly and the death ended years of abuse. He said Blaze had two children and four step children but was a father to all during his 30-year relationship with Scipio.