(Trinidad Express) Frustrated by people she knew well who kept taunting her and her children about her deceased husband’s money, businesswoman Veronica Allison De Leon believed she had taken enough.
“Come for me now,” she told people in her family circle whom she had once been close to.
Someone sent a hitman to kill her early yesterday morning.
Several social media posts, dating back to February, surfaced following the murder of De Leon early yesterday morning.
They showed an ongoing feud between her and people she knew well.
De Leon accused them of hating her and her children for years, and added, “Let the whole world know how you all have been molesting me and my kids. FYI don’t forget I am Mrs Veronica Allison De Leon come for me now. I’m waiting!!!!”
She also wrote them about injustices which she had found out about.
De Leon, 43, of Phillipine, near San Fernando, left her home shortly after 6 a.m. yesterday, and after driving a short distance was blocked by a white Nissan AD Wagon.
The front-seat passenger alighted and ran towards her Range Rover SUV.
De Leon reversed her vehicle towards her home, but was shot as she reached near her front gate.
The man who shot her re-entered the white wagon which sped off.
De Leon died at the scene.
She was the owner of De Leon Bananas Ltd in Debe, which was started in 2013.
De Leon was a mother of four.
Her youngest child was five years old.
Her 59-year-old husband, Nestor De Leon, died of Covid-19 in January 2022, the Sunday Express was told.
Family members declined to comment on her death yesterday.
Senior Superintendent of the Southern Division Richard Smith described De Leon’s killing as a dastardly act and said no stone will be left unturned in the investigation.
Speaking on radio station i95.5 FM, Smith said: “This is normally a quiet, residential area where we don’t have any sort of crime or criminal activities taking place. It’s quite shocking to us, as well as the residents in the area, but I want to assure the residents of Phillipine and Duncan Village and the other areas that we are committed to bringing these cowardly persons to justice because this is quite a dastardly act that we wouldn’t condone.”
He added: “We would not leave any stone unturned and we are working together with all the units, for instance, Homicide, FIU, the Cyber Unit and all the relevant units, to find these persons in the quickest possible time and bring back this area to some state of normalcy. We’re not tolerating this at all, and we are expending all resources in the direction of this investigation.”
In several social media posts, De Leon spoke of issues she was having with people in her family circle about money.
She told one person who thought that Nestor had “died and left me with millions” that there was nothing to claim.
She wrote, “Trying to survive since my husband died…. My kids and I have been through hell and back. All that has been done for my kids it’s me…. I’ve always been the resilant (sic) hard working Indian woman that he’s (Nestor) always been looking for. I always pave the way for many to follow all that you are seeing now it’s all me.”
One person close to the family accused De Leon of being unfair in the distribution of Nestor’s wealth.
The person wrote to De Leon that the way she had been “handling everything, is disturbing and hopefully we can reach some agreement. Your lifestyle has not changed one bit since he passed…”.
De Leon’s killing, plus three other incidents, brought the murder toll for the year to 343 up to last night.
