Mom murdered, husband critical in hospital

Deidreann Layne, a 33-year-old woman of Sangre Grande, was murdered on Friday night at Turure farm when she was stabbed in the chest and her throat slit by a man.

Her former common-in-law husband, 21-year-old Paul Cox, a contractor of Foster Road, Sangre Grande, who also suffered stab wounds was shot in the head and is now in critical condition at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. According to Police reports, Layne, a mother of two, left her Coalmine home around 10 am on Friday to visit a friend at Valencia to pay for a “Sou-Sou” in which she was participating. They later learned that after Layne finished her mission, she and a female friend, identified only as “Carol,” went to Valencia Junction where they were waiting for transport to Sangre Grande.

While waiting there around 6 pm, a car pulled up and a man known to Layne came out and ordered both women to get into the vehicle. The man then ordered the driver to proceed to Sangre Grande. On reaching Turure, he asked the driver to stop the car. The man alighted and then pulled out Layne, whipping out a knife in the process. Relatives said “Carol” told them that she tried pulling back Layne but that she received a slash on her hand in the process. The driver then drove off, while the man dragged Layne along the Turure Road. The man then took Layne to a farm where he reportedly used a knife to slit her throat then stabbed her in the chest. Nearby farmers were alerted by the commotion and summoned the police.  A farmer said he heard what seemed like a row between Layne and the man.

A party of policemen responded immediately. On their arrival at the scene they found a man lying on top of Layne’s body with a knife stuck in his throat. They were in a pool of blood. Believing that both persons were dead, the police officers touched the man, who they said suddenly flew up in a rage and attacked some of the officers. He was shot in his head in the process. The wounded man was taken by the Emergency Health Service(EHS) ambulance to the Sangre Grande Hospital from where he was transferred to Port-of-Spain General Hospital. District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Chalam viewed Layne’s body and ordered its removal to the Sangre Grande Hospital Mortuary. A post morthem is expected to be performed tomorrow at the Forensic Sciences Centre.

When Sunday Newsday visited the Layne family at Coalmine yesterday the atmosphere at the home was one of complete silence with the dead woman’s family in a state of shock. Crying, Layne’s mother, Joycelyn, told Sunday Newsday that she knew that her daughter had recently ended a relationship with a man. Brother of the deceased, Cassicus Cordner and sister Alana Maxwell said their sister was kind and loving, working to have her two children Keron, 11, and Damien, 10, have a good education. She worked at Albrosco Farm, Valencia. Both Keron and Damien said their mother went to St Francis Primary School in Sangre Grande, which they attend, and gave them five dollars and told them she would see them later in the afternoon. “That was the last thing she said to us,” Layne’s children said, pointing out that she was a nice person, who would be missed. Sgt Fermin Roy is continuing investigations.