Two men were murdered and their female friend injured as they were liming in Santa Cruz yesterday in what police believe was a reprisal for the murder of a man last week.
According to police reports, Dwayne Gopaul, 35, Leonard Perez, 41 and Natasha Hutchinson were liming near Perez’s home at Robert Street, La Canoa, Lower Santa Cruz, around 1.15 am when gunshots rang out.
Residents later found Perez and Gopaul dead and Hutchinson injured. Hutchinson, of Saddle Road, Santa Cruz, was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where she was listed in a serious condition.
At the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday, Perez’s brother, Stephen, told the media his younger brother was a very jovial man who made everyone laugh.
Saying the gunshots had awakened him from sleep but he thought nothing of it at the time, Stephen added: “He was a man don’t be in nothing. When our parents died we made sure and take care of each other. He would mind my children and I would mind his. How am I supposed to face them and tell them that their father is dead?”
Police said Gopaul, of First Corner, La Canoa, Santa Cruz, was a suspect in the murder of Eddison Sitney, 28, who died at hospital last week after being shot. Relatives of Gopaul were not at the Forensic Science Centre when the media visited.
The double murder was one of three in north Trinidad between Tuesday and yesterday. In the other incident, police said Richard “Juice” Prince, 34, was walking along Balthazar Street, Tunapuna, around 4.45 pm on Tuesday when he was shot. Relatives refused to speak to the media at the centre yesterday.
In a telephone interview yesterday, head of the Homicide Bureau, Supt Zamsheed Mohammed, said the detection rate for murders had increased by ten per cent in the last three months and with the promise of 40 new officers, he expected that to increase.
“In March the detection rate was 7.2 per cent, now it is 17.3. Within the last few months we have solved three to five murders weekly, we are doing a lot and with the 40 new officers we expect to do more,” Mohammed said in a telephone interview.
He admitted while the detection rate was not where they wanted it to be, with the limited resources available a lot was being done. He called for the implementation of a DNA database, which, he said, would greatly assist them as they sought to use technology to aid in the detection rate.
Mohammed said the 40 new officers, taken from varying stations, would have to be trained before they were put out in the field. That training, he said, would take some time, adding that the officers are expected to be transferred within a couple weeks.
He also said some of the officers who would be assigned to his office would also be assisting with cold cases. Mohammed said the current murder toll is 227 while for the same period last year there were 196 murders.