Guyanese couple dead in suspected murder/suicide – T&T cops

Trinidad police suspect a suicide pact in the death of a couple whose bodies were discovered in an apartment in Longdenville, Chaguanas, yesterday.

Dead are Maria Ward, 22, and Christopher Haynes, 24, The Trinidad Express reported today. Both are nationals of Guyana and Trinidad police are unsure if they were in the Twin-Island Republic legally.

Their bodies were found by police called in by the landlord of a property at Light Pole 100, Main Road, Longdenville.

Officers said they had to break open the door and found both dressed only in undergarments. There were no visible marks of violence.

It is suspected both agreed to drink a poisonous substance, or one forced the other to do it before committing suicide.

Ward worked at a food outlet in St Helena, neighbours said.

Haynes reportedly went to Trinidad about two weeks ago, The Express reported.

In April last year, the Haslington woman who was stabbed and slashed by Haynes was told that she would have to undergo another operation as doctors needed to determine whether she had sustained any nerve damage.

The 21-year-old  Ward of North Haslington, East Coast Demerara (ECD) told Stabroek News on April 21 last year that she was relieved that her attacker,  Haynes also called ‘Clint’ and ‘Mark Anthony, was detained. But she said the police had not yet visited her to take a formal statement and expressed frustration.

The woman was hospitalised after being brutally stabbed and slashed days before, after Haynes accused her of unfaithfulness. Ward suffered a slash to her throat and three stab wounds to her body, including one to her left temple.

The young woman’s shocked relatives had said that they received a call early on the morning informing them that Ward had been attacked by the man, who practically lived at her home.

Relatives had told this newspaper that Haynes and Ward were on their way to Haynes’s home around 2 am on the day, when he attacked her. After slashing her throat and stabbing her, he removed her bloodied clothing dressed her in some of his and took her to the hospital in a taxi.

“She said while in the car, he tell she not to tell people at the hospital is he do it but tell them how she get attack and she call he and he come and assist,” the relative said.

However, Ward told the police at the hospital what had really happened and Haynes was arrested.
Relatives said Ward told them that Haynes had hit her before and that she had complained several times to his mother.
Haynes, a mason by profession, had been expected at that time to leave the country to take up a job on a ship.