Trinidad: Granny begs ‘I would never do it again’ but killed anyway

PORT-AU-PRINCE/HAVANA (Reuters) - Caribbean islands already reeling from the economic impact of coronavirus started recovering yesterday from the damage wrought by Tropical Storm Laura, which left at least 24 dead and damaged thousands of homes and electricity infrastructure. Brigades of workers were out fixing toppled power poles, removing fallen trees blocking roads and repairing roofs after the storm blustered through the region's largest countries. - Laura has become a hurricane since exiting Cuba on its northwestern path towards the United States.

Laura caused the most damage in Haiti, where preparedness is weak while deforestation has left the country vulnerable to flooding and landslides when there are heavy rains.

Torrents of water carrying rocks down from the mountains barreled through a marketplace in a ravine of Port-au-Prince before dawn on

Men carry a bed and a mattress as they walk along an area affected by the passage of Tropical Storm Laura, in Port-au-Prince. Credit: Reuters

Sunday, including the warehouses where many vendors were sleeping.

"I came here straight away only to find my mother dead,” said Lorius Joseph, 38, heaving and struggling to

talk in front of her corpse. "She used to sell pork bits on the market."

After the rains subsided, vendors scoured the mud for merchandise like vegetables and eggs. (Trinidad Express) An elderly woman was knifed to death in the bedroom of her home during an attack in Sangre Grande shortly after midnight.

Kowsil Ramkhelawan, 71, died at the scene.

Police were told that at around 11.30p.m. a female relative heard voices coming from Ramkhelawan’s bedroom.

The woman was heard pleading, saying she would not do it again.

The relative opened the door to find a man, face hidden by a mask and hoodie, stabbing the woman in the neck and face.

The man fled and the relative called police.

When officers arrived at the house at Mandillon Road, Coalmine, the woman was already dead.

The woman was found by her 15-year-old granddaughter.

According to initial reports, at about 12.30am today the girl was in the bathroom of her home a when she heard a commotion.

She then heard her grandmother calling out, and saying that she would ‘never do it again’.

The teenager came outside and observed a man with a mask over his face, and a hoodie on, standing next to her grandmother.

The woman was lying on the ground of the bedroom in a pool of blood.

The man, on seeing the teenager, then fled the scene. The teenager immediately notified the police and paramedics.

A team of officers from the Eastern Division Task Force, the Emergency Response Patrol, the Sangre Grande police station, under the supervision of Snr Sup Aguilal, responded.

However, the victim succumbed to her injuries.