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Vonetta's neighbour to appear in court for 3 murders
By Akile Simon
Story Created: Jul 29, 2011 at 11:56 PM ECT
Story Updated: Jul 29, 2011 at 11:56 PM ECT
THE 23-year-old neighbour of Vonetta Haynes-Reyes has been charged with her murder and that of her two young sons, Malik, eight, and Makasi, four.
Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard yesterday gave instructions to ASP Kenrick Edwards, of the Region II Homicide Bureau of Investigations, to charge the accused with three counts of murder.
Late yesterday the lead investigator into the triple killings, Sgt Curt Simon, of the Homicide Bureau, charged the suspect with the murders. He is expected to appear before an Arima magistrate on Tuesday to answer the charges.
Contacted last evening, Selvon Reyes, ex-husband of Haynes-Reyes and father of her two sons, said he wasn't feeling well and declined to speak.
The suspect, who sports a low Rastafarian hairstyle, was nabbed by investigators, led by Edwards and including PCs Marvin Pinder, Ameer Mohammed and WPC Rachel Huggins, around 2.30 a.m. on Thursday.
When officers, assisted by Northern Division Task Force officers, went to a house at Ragbir Street, St Augustine, they found the suspect asleep inside, which belongs to one of his male relatives.
An arrest warrant was executed on the suspect and a search warrant was also executed on the premises, but nothing illegal or of evidential value in relation to the triple homicides was found, police said.
The suspect, who is a welder by profession, and has a rape charge at the Chaguanas Magistrates' Court and a marijuana possession matter before the Arima Magistrates' Court, had fled his Plumbago La Horquetta home one day after Haynes-Reyes and her sons were found murdered at their home.
He is the first person investigators have detained following the murders. Police said one day after Haynes-Reyes and her sons were murdered, the suspect moved out of his Plumbago Avenue home and went to stay with the relative in St Augustine. Officers had the residence under surveillance after tracing the suspect to his new place.
Yesterday, officers expressed concern over what they described as misleading reports being carried by several media houses (not the Express), which linked the killings to an intimate relationship the suspect shared with Haynes-Reyes and that he was obsessed with her. Officers said they have not unearthed such information throughout their investigations and have linked the murders to a robbery.
According to police sources, after Haynes-Reyes and her sons were killed, the suspect removed her car from the premises to give the impression that she was not at home in case any visitors turned up to check on her. As he drove the car along Carapo Road, in Arima, the vehicle developed mechanical difficulties and he abandoned it.
Police said the suspect also secured the premises, intending to return later that night with a truck and "clean out" the woman's home of all her property. Officers were not able to determine if anything was initially taken from the residence.
But this didn't happen, as Haynes-Reyes's boyfriend, Gary Sutherland of Chaguanas, spotted her body in a pool of blood inside her room. Sutherland made the discovery after he went to the home when calls to Haynes-Reyes's cellphone went unanswered. As he stood outside the house and dialled her number, the phone was heard ringing from inside the home.
Police said Sutherland became suspicious and decided to peek through a window, when he saw Haynes-Reyes's body. He immediately notified officers of the La Horquetta Police Station. The officers had to kick open a side door to gain access to the house, where they found the bodies of Haynes-Reyes and her sons.
Haynes-Reyes and her sons were laid to rest, side by side, at the D'Abadie Cemetery on Wednesday, following a private funeral service at Allen's Funeral Home and Chapel in Arima. Homicide detectives, who were also at the funeral service, were keeping an eye out for the suspect, who failed to show up.
He didn't know that police had linked him to the crime after they discovered evidence which revealed that he was the last person to see Haynes-Reyes and her sons alive.
Post-mortem examinations have revealed Haynes-Reyes died from puncture wounds to the front and back of her neck, while her sons died from chop wounds to the neck.
Contacted yesterday, DCP Mervyn Richardson told the Express he was satisfied with the manner in which the investigators conducted their probe into the incident. He also commended the officers for the professional manner in which they were able to bring quick closure in the matter.
