(Trinidad Guardian) Two months after her husband’s incarceration forced her to live alone in a new home, Susan “Mary” Seepersad suffered a tragic death when her throat was slit on Monday morning.
Police suspect an “intoxicated” neighbour murdered the 34-year-old mother of two inside a dilapidated structure at the back of their rented apartment building along Rampersad Trace, Debe.
Seepersad is the ninth woman to be murdered this year. It happened mere hours before Jamaican national Adrian Byfield appeared in the Siparia Magistrates’ Court for hacking his wife, Rachael Logan, to death 11 days ago.
Police reports indicate that an anonymous caller contacted San Fernando CID around 6.50 am stating that a woman was seen bleeding in an abandoned building. Barrackpore police responded and found Seepersad on the floor drenched in her blood.
Snr Supt Wayne Mohammed and ASP Andrew John, along with officers of the Homicide Bureau of Investigations: Region Three and Crime Scene Unit, responded and cordoned off the area, where residents had already gathered.
The suspect was nowhere to be found and residents said he was unemployed and would usually hang around the area. Some were even furious with the landlord, saying that on numerous occasions they saw the suspect walking with a cutlass and he had frightening episodes with neighbours. They felt the suspect should have been evicted previously.
One resident said the suspect was a problem for his family and so they rented the apartment to keep him away.
But in Seepersad’s case, she left her in-law’s home in Penal after her husband was sentenced to prison for failure to pay a fine, a relative said. She would sell produce at the Penal and Siparia markets and on the streets to make ends meet for her and her children, ages five and 15.
Thankfully, the children were with relatives in Penal when Seepersad was murdered.
Investigators were told that Seepersad and the suspect were hanging out and drinking alcohol up to 4 am. They said they suspect that her killer made a pass at her and she refused, resulting in a violent tussle.
At the scene yesterday, her younger brother, Krishna Seepersad, told journalists that he realised the suspect had strange behaviours and warned his sister to stay away.
“I limed here since she was renting, for about three days. Just Friday we were liming and I bought KFC for her.
From Friday, this is the news I am hearing. This fella, he alone rents there too… He is kind of violent. He is young. He is about 24 years old,” Krishna said.
“He would be there normal, like how I am talking here normal and then he will trip and start to watch you hard. Well, with the three days or four days that I limed with him, I noticed that about him so I told my sister, ‘Aye! He is off in his head you know.’ He does drink and thing too. When he drinks, he trips off a kind of way.”
He said the area his sister’s body was found was where she would do laundry and used the toilet. He was not surprised that his sister was with the suspect, as he knew they developed a friendship since they both lived alone in their apartments.
However, he said they were not in a romantic relationship.
“They were friends because they were living right there. She was by herself and he was by himself so two of them must co-operate and talk. Yes, they used to lime and thing, but I don’t know what happened.”
Police were searching for the suspect up to yesterday afternoon and assured that he will be found soon.