Corn soup vendor stabbed to death

GRENADIAN national Joseph Matthew was supposed to return to his homeland yesterday before flying out to England to meet his wife who has been living there for almost a year. He didn’t make it.

On Thursday night, the 49-year-old corn soup vendor was fatally stabbed in the neck following an argument with a 26-year-old man whom he had ordered to leave his sister’s house at George Street, La Romain. The suspect, a maxi-taxi conductor, who had been staying at the house for the past four months, surrendered to a policeman moments after the fatal stabbing. Matthew’s sister, Jermaine Picou, is currently living in the United States. The deceased lived at Cocoa Alley, Siparia, but started staying at his sister’s house a week ago. The house is occupied by Picou’s son, Leslie, his common-law wife, Mary Layne and their six-year-old son, Akee.

At around 9 pm, Matthew confronted the suspect on the roadway near Picou’s house and demanded that he leave. Matthew told the suspect his sister did not want him staying in the house anymore. A heated dispute began and soon turned violent, ending in murder. Eyewitnesses told police Matthew attacked the suspect with a cutlass and the suspect pulled out a knife and stabbed the deceased on the left side of his neck. Matthew ran to his sister’s house where he collapsed and died in the gallery. Visiting the scene were officers from San Fernando Homicide Bureau. When Newsday visited the scene yesterday, Leslie Picou said he was not at home at the time of the stabbing. His common-law-wife, told Newsday the suspect slept on a couch in the drawing room.  

She said on Thursday morning, Matthew told the suspect he would have to find another place to sleep because he was “mashing up” a chair. Layne added that Matthew and the suspect started arguing and the suspect left. Layne said the next time she saw Matthew was around 7 pm. My son was sleeping when he  come home and he started playing with the sleeping boy. He was only pulling my son’s thumb out of his mouth. Then he say ‘alright boy, you sleep’ and he walked outside,” Layne said. She said sometime later, Matthew burst through her bedroom door, bleeding profusely from a wound to the left side of his neck. “He tell me, ‘oh God Mary call the ambulance. Ah feel ah go dead before they come’,” she said. Layne said Matthew ran down the hallway, sat down on a chair in the drawing room for a few seconds and then ran into the gallery where he collapsed and bled to death. 

Leslie Picou, said his uncle’s wife, Shirley Picou, had not yet been told about his death. He said Matthew was supposed to purchase his ticket for Grenada yesterday to prepare his documents and then fly out to England to be reunited with his wife. According to Picou, his uncle was only going on a vacation to England and his flight was scheduled for June 28. Picou said his uncle, who would have celebrated his 50th birthday on June 25, had been living in Trinidad for many years and got married six years ago. His wife and her four children migrated to England almost a year ago. An autopsy was due to be carried out yesterday at the Forensic Sciences Centre in St James. Following the results of the autopsy, the file will be sent to Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Henderson. Cpl Hosein is continuing investigations.