Stepmother’s killer held

A Public Servant attached to the Ministry of Finance has been charged by the police with the murder of Salina Lisa Sahadath. He will appear before an Arima magistrate today. The man was arrested hours after Salina’s body was found on Monday. Yesterday, assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Carla Brown Antoine gave directions to the police to charge the 33-year-old Barrackpore man with the murder. The charge was laid by Sgt Arlene Forde of the Northern Division. Sahadath, a mother of two of Quinam Road, Siparia, left her home last Saturday to meet a man to discuss financial help for the purchase of a maxi-taxi.

Hours later, her body was discovered at the Priority Bus Route in the vicinity of Pinto Road, Arima. An autopsy on Monday revealed that death was due to strangulation. A party of homicide officers led by Inspector Lester Hutchins, Sgt Johnny Abraham and Sgt Arlene Forde carried out investigations and several persons were interviewed and statements recorded. Two years ago, Sahadath, 27, was charged with attempting to murder her six-year-old stepson, Nicholai Siewnarine, by beating him on the head with a wheel-spanner and attempting to run him down with her car. She was out on bail on Saturday when she was killed. The incident with the stepson occurred on April 10, 2002, and on August 20 last year she was committed to stand trial in the High Court for the offence.

On April 10, 2002, Sahadath, a former waitress, allegedly picked the boy up from school and drove him to a lonely place at Scott’s Road Penal. She allegedly gagged him with his socks, tied his hands with his shoe laces and began beating him on the head with a wheel-spanner. He managed to run away, but she pursued him in her car and attempted to run him down. He was rescued by two persons. At the time of the incident, Nicholai was living with his father Ramesh Seecharan and Sahadath at Barrackpore. Nicholai’s mother Reena, who had migrated to the United States, returned to Trinidad to be with her son. She left for the States last week with Nicholai and her daughter.