(Trinidad Guardian) Joan Cheryl Cooper received death threats over a year ago, following an ongoing land dispute. When she was finally gunned down in Marabella yesterday, her relatives still could not believe the threat had materialised.
“How could this happen? I thought it would end with a cuss out but look! She dead now,” Cooper’s brother, Derrick Aberdeen, wept as he gazed at Cooper’s body in the front seat of a white Nissan Sentra at Grenada Terrace, Harmony Hall, Marabella.
The killing occurred around 6.30 am, a day before Cooper, 53, was expected to appear in the San Fernando High Court to testify in the land dispute case. Cooper’s boyfriend Carl Edmund, who worked as a landscaper, was also shot in the left side of the chest and was listed in stable condition at the San Fernando General Hospital last night.
Police said Cooper and Edmund had just come out their driveway when a man dressed in white walked up to their car and fired. The shooter then ran to a nearby street, jumped in a waiting car and drove off. The man was seen fidgeting with an item in his car before ambushing the couple. Cooper was shot in the abdomen and died within minutes.
Aberdeen said he last spoke to Cooper about a month ago. He said she had lodged a report at the Marabella Police Station after the threats were made and police investigated it and later charged the offender.
Describing Cooper as a kind-hearted and loving mother, Aberdeen said she lived for sometime at Bayshore, Marabella, but moved out about five years ago to live with Edmund. Aberdeen said Cooper worked with CEPEP and was devoted to her five children—Simon, Sheldon, Natty, Shivaughn and Kesha.
“We grew up with love. We had different fathers but all we ever knew was love,” Aberdeen said.
He explained that it was this kind-heartedness that led to the land dispute. He said sometime ago a relative’s home was burnt down and arson was suspected but no one was ever arrested.
Police said yesterday that they were looking for CCTV footage to help them locate the killer. Several of Cooper’s family, including her daughter Shivaughn Moffat, said she planned to go to court as usual today.
“The lawyer has to know what happened. My mother did not deserve this. She was a good woman,” Moffat wept.
“I was not expecting her life to be in danger. I was expecting something, but not this.”
An autopsy is scheduled to be done on Cooper’s body today. Anyone with information on her killing can contact CrimeStoppers at 800-TIPS or call the San Fernando Homicide Bureau.
