Triple murder rocks Green Island

Jilted fisherman slaughters ex-girlfriend and their two children

IT WOULD appear that anger, spawned by rejection, was at the heart of yesterday’s brutal triple murder in Green Island, Hanover, where a pregnant mother and her two children were hacked to death by the children’s fisherman father. He was said to be enraged after she was impregnated by another man.

The victims of the attack, which took place in the Dixon Wharf section of Green Island, were identified as 38-yearold Adanique Cunningham, who was eight months’ pregnant; and daughters seven-year-old Jayanna Coote and fouryear-old Sanique Coote. Paul Coote, the father of the children, is now in custody in connection with the killings.

According to residents, at approximately 7 a.m., Cunningham, who had reportedly moved out of Coote’s house after she became pregnant, went to his house to visit her two children, who resided with him. Shortly after she arrived, neighbours heard quarrelling followed by screaming.

CHASING AND CHOPPING

“The quarrel got louder, and then we heard bawling. When we looked over the yard, we saw Cootie (the attacker’s nickname) chasing her (Cunningham) around the yard with a machete, which he was using to chop and slap her,” recounted a resident. “By the time other residents rushed into the yard, he had already killed her and the children and was trying to escape.”

While he was trying to escape, Coote reportedly ran across a main road and was hit by a minibus. As he fell, the residents swooped down on him and he was held. He was subsequently turned over to the Green Island police.

According to the residents, Cunningham and the much older Coote, who is 61 years old, lived together for several years, during which time the two little girls were born. However, they broke up when she became intimately involved with a younger man. When she became pregnant, she reportedly moved in with her mother while the children stayed with their father.

While confirming that Coote is now in their custody, the Green Island police told The Gleaner that he had not yet been charged as they were still carrying out investigations.

The latest killings have lifted Hanover’s murder count to 19 since the start of the year. While the figure is substantially less than the comparative period last year, some residents are again raising concerns, this, especially in the aftermath of incidents such as Monday night’s murder of Lincoln ‘Fat Head’ Muir, who was shot dead by gunmen at his home.