A crime scene detective testified yesterday when the trial of Ralph Tyndall, Anthony DePaul Hope and Kevin O’Neil continued for the murder of Colleen Forrester, whose body was found in a septic tank in Kitty in 2008.
A voir dire had been ongoing for a week prior to Detective Constable Kevin Herbert taking the stand. He told the court that he was stationed at the Alberttown Police Station when he received a call about a missing person’s report. He stated that he went to a house at William Street, Kitty and saw two young men sitting on the verandah.
Herbert said he identified himself to Anthony DePaul Hope and Kevin O’Neil and asked to search the Lot 55 William Street residence. He stated that while he was searching the house, he noticed what appeared to be spots of dried blood in one bedroom. When he questioned Hope about it, Herbert said, the man responded that he had cut his foot. Herbert said he asked Hope to see his foot and there was no cut.
He said dried blood was also observed on the inside staircase of the house. Herbert said that his attention was drawn to the septic tank in the yard when he went outside.
14He said there was a pungent odour coming from the vicinity of the tank and on closer investigation he noticed that some of the grass was trampled on.
Herbert said he asked for the septic tank lid to be lifted and what he saw inside was a body wrapped in a sheet. He said Forrester’s son positively identified her when a piece of cloth was removed from her face. Right then, he said, he read Hope and O’Neil their rights and placed them under arrest.
He said the criminal investigation team uplifted two buckets, two pants, a brush, and one aluminium pan which were stained with blood. These items were yesterday tendered and marked as evidence in the trial.
Attorney Madan Kissoon was the first to cross-examine Herbert and he argued that there was nothing of evidential value to pin his client, Tyndall, to the murder. Herbert, however, disagreed.
Under cross-examination, Herbert admitted that no finger prints were lifted from the crime scene nor could he state if any crime scene analysis was carried out.
At their indictment, the trio denied that between December 27, 2007 and January 6, 2008 they murdered Forrester. A jury was empanelled on May 13 before Justice Roxane George.
During her opening address, State Counsel Shawnette Austin said on December 27, Forrester left her West Ruimveldt home with her granddaughter to attend the Main Street Lime. After leaving the event, Austin stated, they went to the William Street address, where Forrester was a caretaker for the property and Forrester sent her granddaughter downstairs to fetch water. That was the last time she was seen alive.
Austin said that on January 6, 2008, a missing person’s report was filed by the granddaughter, in the company of her uncle, Clayton Forrester. A few days later Forrester’s body was found wrapped in sheets in the septic tank of the William Street residence.
Constable Alana Henry, who was the first witness to take the stand, recalled taking the missing person’s report on January 6, 2008 from Clayton and his niece Nikita, while on duty at the Prashad Nagar Police Outpost.
Responding to questions under cross-examination from Kissoon, Henry said that it had been reported to her that Forrester was last seen on December 27, 2007.
Asked for the granddaughter’s age, Henry told Hope’s attorney, Melville Duke, that the girl appeared to have been between the ages of nine and ten, at the time the report was made.
Meanwhile, in response to questions from O’Neil’s lawyer, George Thomas, the constable said that she asked neither Clayton nor Nikita about Colleen’s physical or mental state, up to the point she was last seen.
The trial continues today.
A total of 15 witnesses are expected to be called by the state which is represented by Austin, in association with prosecutors Diana Kaulesar and Stacy Goodings.
