Couple arrested in Trinidad ‘horror house’ case

(Trinidad Express) Police have arrested the male suspect in connection with the alleged murder of 18 year old Hannah Mathura.

Senior Superintendent Smith of the North Central Division told the Express that based on information received the man was apprehended at a house in El Dorado where he was hiding.

Police have also detained the man’s wife, who is also in her 60s.

The man has been taken to the St Joseph Police Station.

His wife has been detained at the Arouca police station.

Investigations will continue and reports compiled to be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard who will determine the charges to be laid.

Superintendent Smith said that Homicide investigators have been working around the clock to find the male suspect.

He added that the Trinidad and Tobago Victim Support Unit will be utilised to lend support and counseling to the couple’s children whose ages range between 17 and 24.

The Express was told by relatives that the children are all “very bright” and was always invested in their studies as they were not allowed to watch television or go out.

At least four of them attended prestigious schools and won open scholarships.

Earlier on Wednesday, video footage was shared of the male suspect leaving the Butu road house in Valsayn in a red vehicle.

The Express was told that the vehicle was left somewhere and was retrieved by the man’s daughters.

A team of officers were in Valsayn for several hours hunting for the man until they received a tip that he was hiding in El Dorado.

Relatives told the Express that the man’s immediate family were brainwashed by him and lived in fear.

An argument on Sunday at the home between the man and another male relative is what prompted a call to the St Joseph Police Station.

On Tuesday, officers and Defence Force members moved into the house with an excavator from the Tunapuna Piarco Regional Corporation where they dug up the back yard and found human skeletal remains believed to be Hannah Mathura.