Man charged as mom buried

WHILE family and friends gathered at the New Grant Pentecostal Church yesterday to say a final goodbye to murdered Princes Town mother of four, Juliet Victoria Gonzales Cummings, police were busy charging a man for the brutal murder. The man will appear before a Princes Town magistrate this morning.

Senior police sources confirmed that the man, a relative of Cummings, was identified by an eyewitness and as such, the DPP gave the go-ahead to press charges against him. Police sources who initially reported that the suspect had been released due to a lack of evidence, yesterday changed this version by saying he had been transferred from one police station to another and was not freed. The funeral service for Cummings, which began at 2 pm and lasted some two and a half hours, drew a large crowd of friends, relatives and well-wishers who, for the most part, sat in stunned silence as mourner after mourner paid tribute to a “woman who endured years of pain for the good of her children.”

Cummings, whose face was framed by a frilly white cloth that hid the numerous scars she sustained during Saturday evening’s attack, was laid to rest in a shimmering white dress, while numerous rose petals covered the rest of her body. Her elder sister, Jane, moved many in the huge congregation to tears when, with her voice cracking, she stood up and sang one of her dead sister’s favourite hymns - Stand up for Jesus. Earlier, in the eulogy delivered by childhood friend, Peter Lara, a plea was made for society to become “un-Americanised”.
Lara said “our society has become so Americanised that nobody helps anyone anymore,” in obvious reference to the fact that several persons stood by and watched Cummings being murdered. Officiating minister Reverend Ray Hosein observed, “Someday all of life’s wrongs will be made right.” He also urged the large congregration to “prepare for death” as the crime scourge is stalking the nation like a plague. Cummings, was the mother of Pricilla, 13, Shane Marcellin, 12, Wayne Marcellin, 10 and Selena Marcellin, eight.