A crime of passion is how residents of Coco Piece Road, Gasparillo, described the brutal murder of housewife Kavita Lisa Jokhan, who was bludgeoned about the head by a man who claimed to love her.
The suspect’s response was apparently triggered after Jokhan refused his advances.
“He used to say nobody else can get her. Only he can get her,” a neighbour told the T&T Guardian yesterday.
The suspect, a 58-year-old gardener from the area, was arrested at the scene after residents noticed blood splattered on his feet and alerted the police.
According to reports, Jokhan, 27, who lived with her common-law husband, had just returned home around 3.30 pm on Wednesday and was standing in her garage. It is believed the suspect met her there and repeatedly bashed an object against her head and left. An autopsy yesterday revealed death was due to blunt force cerebral trauma.
Police were not sure what was used to kill Jokhan and Southern Division Police were searching the area in the hope of finding a murder weapon. They suspect that a heavy piece of wood was used.
A neighbour said a worker who was loading produce onto a truck nearby noticed someone lying on the floor and alerted them.
“A boy was loading his truck when he said ‘look a man dead over there’. When my husband went across there to see what happened, he said it looked like Lisa killed herself,” the neighbour said.
She said Jokhan had personal problems, but on further checks, they all realised that the situation was grimmer than they first thought.
A diminutive Jokhan was found on the ground with her blood on the walls and the silver Toyota Altis parked in her garage.
Residents gathered at the scene were shocked at the horror that befell their neighbour and quiet community.
They said the suspect later emerged from the bushes behind a neighbour’s house and casually joined them until they noticed the blood on his feet.
Neighbours said the suspect was a drunkard who they stayed away from because he would walk in the roadway spitting profanities.
They said Jokhan, who was brought to the community six years ago by her husband, developed a friendship. They dispelled talk of a love triangle but said Jokhan and the suspect would drink together at his shack at the end of the road, in a track leading to agricultural lands. However, they fell out when the suspect touched Jokhan inappropriately and she and her husband reported him to the police.
Since then, neighbours said the suspect had been passing on the road and cursing her, but they would speak to each other when he was sober.
Southern Division police are continuing investigations.