Police are searching for a 38-year-old man responsible for the murder of Simon “Ila” Duntin, 51, who was hacked to death near his La Romain home on Tuesday night.
Police believe Duntin’s killer also chopped Samuel Mangroo to death on September 10 along the Southern Main Road, La Romain, a short distance away from where Duntin was murdered.
Mangroo, who was homeless, was attacked after picking avocados in the area.
The murder toll for 2015 stood at 322 yesterday, with 107 of them occurring in the Region Three Homicide Bureau’s jurisdiction, which consists of the Central, South and South Western Police Divisions. This region recorded 108 murders at the end of 2014.
Police said Duntin, who has a slight mental illness, may have been targeted by a murderer who seems to be targeting destitute and vulnerable victims.
Reports stated Southern Division Task Force officers were patrolling the Southern Main Road around 11 pm when a passerby alerted them to Duntin's body which was lying across the pavement.
When the officers checked, they found the body in front of Top Game Members Club.
Eyewitnesses reported that he was walking along the pavement when a man of East Indian descent, bearded and slim built, attacked him with a cutlass.
Duntin ran a short distance but fell to the ground. The attacker caught up with him and bludgeoned him to death. As passersby approached the killer ran through a yard and onto a nearby street.
When the T&T Guardian visited the crime scene yesterday, patrons at the bars nearby said they were not around when the murder happened.
Investigators said both Mangroo and Duntin's murders had a similar pattern and the description of the suspect was the same.
They believe the killer lives in La Romain and was arrested two weeks ago by San Fernando CID for marijuana possession. They also believe he began attacking people after discovering he was HIV positive.
Searches were made for him but up to yesterday he could not be found. Police believe Duntin’s relatives may have also seen his attacker afterwards.
At Duntin's home yesterday, his cousin Vicky-Ann John said he left home on Tuesday night to buy a cigarette and she got a phone call around 11.30 pm from her sister saying he was murdered.
She said when they arrived at the scene the Crime Scene Unit had already cordoned off the area but when she and other relatives were returning home they saw a man matching the suspect's description but he ran when he saw them.
She said it appeared the killer knew her uncle as witnesses revealed that after the murder, he said: “I sent Ila home.”
Duntin's niece, Chris Ramlogan, said although he had a mild mental problem since suffering an injury to his eyes as a youngster, he never got into trouble with anyone. She said everyone in the community knew him as a quiet person.